Author: protestfamily

The world's favourite east London semi-acoustic political sing along folk punk group.

Dear Natalie

My dearest darling Natalie
I really like your style
Your tenacity defending
This green and pleasant isle
Your hard line on asylum seekers
Coming over here
Our match was made in heaven
That’s obvious, my dear

We’re so alike, dear Natalie
It’s very plain to see
Your votes against equalities
And for Voter ID
Those rights for workers, I agree
Will really have to go
And never mind the mishap
Shame on you and P&O

Dear Natalie, you’re very right
As far as I can see
Nobody could question
Our compatibility
And it’s fair, dear Natalie
To tap up Honest Bob
Your sex pest ex’s sentence
Clearly was a stitch-up job

I’m so glad you crossed the floor
Natalie, my dear
Welcome to the party
With all my love
Sir Kier

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Elections 2024

Susan Hall in a ULEZ car
Andy Street on the street
Conservatives out in Blackpool South
And rare in a council seat

Sunak’s disappointed
But says that the plan is working
Meanwhile back in Rochdale
George Galloway is lurking
(Pro-Palestine but anti-woke
It’s somewhat disconcerting)

Rotherham, confusingly
Is back in Liverpool
And Coronation Street’s in Yorkshire
But Teeside’s under the Baron’s rule

If you want all the stories
Laura only talks to Tories
Still squawking Stop The Boats
While just not getting many votes

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An Interview With Aldora Britain Records

I am increasingly angry, frustrated, and depressed … How we as a society
tolerate excruciatingly rich people getting even richer while people sleep on
the streets or have to choose between eating or being warm, I’ll never know.

Read the full interview here.

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Transphobia

There’s the seaside postcard transphobe
At their bawdy best
Please don’t take me seriously
It was only said in jest

Then there’s the sporting transphobe
The level playing field type
You can’t give back the muscles
Their explanatory gripe

The old school transphobe’s prone to say
It wasn’t like that in my day
When men were men and men were best
And you can probably guess the rest
And almost none were gay

Like the won’t-think-about-it transphobe
Who just doesn’t understand
It used to be so simple
You’re a woman or you’re a man

And the it’s-just-common-sense transphobe
Because everything’s binary
Two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet
Just common sense you see

And then the internet transphobe
The Rowlings and Linehans
Dead name campaigns are their domain
Denying that your trans

Pick your type, there’s more than two
And each demands to have a say
You might call it a spectrum
Which transphobe will you meet today?

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Rwanda Bound

His dad was Greek
His mum Palestinian
Born in Turkey
He grew up a Syrian

He’s a man of fighting age

He’s handy with a sword
He’s on a small boat
Coming over here
Red cross white coat

He’s a man of fighting age

But it’s alright, it’s okay
He’s leaving the country on the first plane

He law says it’s safe and sound
Just needs assent of the crown
He’s a man of fighting age
St George is Rwanda-bound

They stuck him on a barge
In Portland harbour
Lobbying hard
For his departure

He’s a man of fighting age

A soldier
In a foreign army
We’re not racist
To say this are we

He’s a man of fighting age

But it’s alright, it’s okay
He’s leaving the country on the first plane

He law says it’s safe and sound
Just needs assent of the crown
He’s a man of fighting age
St George is Rwanda-bound

The locals don’t like
Dragon slaying
Don’t like
What the dragon farmer’s paying

He’s a man of fighting age

A catholic country
This one ain’t
We ain’t the type
To venerate a saint

He’s a man of fighting age

But it’s alright, it’s okay
He’s leaving the country on the first plane

He law says it’s safe and sound
Just needing assent of the crown
He’s a man of fighting age
St George is Rwanda-bound

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45 Days to Save the Cheese

The Queen said pace yourself
But in the end she chased herself
Out of office fast as lettuce could rot
It’s so unfair she died
And getting groceries supplied
Was so much harder with the new job that she’d got

The Downing Street fleas
Would’ve tanked Air BnB’s
Johnson’s dog must’ve had quite a lot
And there was nobody there
To make appointments for her hair
To help her stop it from getting in a knot

She said that it was worse
The strings on the public purse
Despite her own ten years in the slot
And took no interest in the lives
Of presidents’ wives
There’s only so much info you can swot

When she had her say
She made Friday budget day
And gave her enemies the whole weekend to plot
Like a game of Tetris
She inevitably let this
Keep her up before removing Kwasi’s spot

And Hunt did not pick up
When she tried to ring him up
Because her number was one that he’d forgot
And now she’s got a book out
Better keep a look out
A bestseller I suspect that it is not

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Five a Day

Anger, frustration, alienation
Disillusionment, pain
Anger, frustration, alienation
Disillusionment, pain
Anger, frustration, alienation
Disillusionment, pain
They’re gonna make sure that you get your five a day

Five a day
Five a day
Five a day

Five a day – they’ll always find a way to make you pay
Five a day – while the rich folk always get their way
Five a day – if there’s a plan for this, let’s get it underway
It’s time to do something about the five a day

Five a day
Five a day
Five a day

Anger, frustration, alienation
Disillusionment, pain
Anger, frustration, alienation
Disillusionment, pain
Anger, frustration, alienation
Disillusionment, pain
They’re gonna make sure that you get your five a day

Five a day
Five a day
Five a day

Anger is the power that you need to make a change
Frustration is the reason that you’re feeling this way
Alienation – it’s why we’re all here
Disillusionment – well, that’s pretty clear
Pain – it’s time to make the pain go away
Pain – it’s time to make the pain go away
Pain – it’s time to make the pain go away
It’s time to do something about the five a day

Five a day
Five a day
Five a day

Five a day – they’ll always find a way to make you pay
Five a day – while the rich folk always get their way
Five a day – if there’s a plan for this, let’s get it underway
It’s time to do something about the five a day

It’s time to do something about the five a day

Five a day

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Put Up Shut Up Britain Part Six

Welcome to Put Up Shut Up Britain
To Put Up Shut Up Britain
To Put Up Shut Up Britain
To Put Up Shut Up Britain

They’re dying on trolleys, dying in chairs
Dying in corridors like nobody cares
And still we sing God bless
God bless the NHS
And still we sing God bless
God bless the NHS
‘Cause when they’ve taken that away
There’s really nothing left

Welcome…

Sooner or later it’s someone you know
Soon you’re as low as you can go
Your house, your street, your town
They’re burning it down
Your house, your street, your town
They’re burning it down
Burn it down

Welcome…

How do we measure a person by their worth
When it’s never been easier to be a TERF
And the only thing that power’s used for
Is persecuting a culture war
While protest singers from sea
To shining sea
Are sharpening their pencils
Getting ready for World War Three

Welcome…

Willy’s sending dick pics, getting into conflicts
Selling out his mates to cover up his clicks
But nothing’s bad enough to get him fired
His loyalty is all that is required
And here’s a map of the shit in your river
Here’s a map of the sewage outflow
Here’s where the shit is delivered
Here’s where your opinion can go

Welcome…

Put your conscience aside, we’re still arming genocide
Blind-eyed to the thousands who died
Blind-eyed to the thousands who died
Blind eyes for the people that die
And welcome to Put Up Shut Up Britain
Where the drones get built and the profits hidden
Get off the statue, get on the plane
And don’t you dare ever complain

Welcome…

Welcome…

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A Trip to Brighton

Well, to Brighton Road studios to start work on the next album with the amazingly talented Ali Gavan who recorded and mixed all the songs on Trickle Down Town.

The reality for bands like us is that recording studio time is limited by finance and, well, time, and generally it’s weekend days borrowed from family and other commitments and fitted in around the football and folk club calendars that see us in the studio doing our best to get it right first time, but there’s plans for a new album late this year or early 2025 plus a couple of singles and, if our plans pay off, a very special release for next season so, as ever, watch this space.

Next stop for us is back to Bally Studios to get match fit for Bearded Theory and Strummercamp. Maybe we’ll see you at one or both of those.

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Al-Rashid Road – a villanelle

In the land where Goliath once strode
With the whine of a drone overhead
There’s an air strike on Al-Rashid Road

The targeted vehicles explode
And seven aid workers lie dead
In the land where Goliath once strode

In soft-skinned transport they rode
Too easy for missiles to shred
There’s an air strike on Al-Rashid Road

Where the lifeblood of charity flowed
Good Samaritans now fear to tread
In the land where Goliath once strode

With shelling the alms they erode
Denying the starving their bread
There’s an air strike on Al-Rashid Road

A ceasefire now surely is owed
As blood-soaked the path lays ahead
In the land where Goliath once strode
There’s an air strike on Al-Rashid Road

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