Edward Colston 1636-1721 (He’s in the River Now)

How’s your anosmia?
How are your critical faculties?
How’s your sense of taste and smell?
Can you face up to some realities?
Have you worked out why black lives matter yet?
Why Colston’s head had to hit the deck?
He’s in the river now

The man made his money out of trading slaves
Imagine walking past that every day
Imagine living in a society
That still celebrates guys like these
So have you worked out why black lives matter yet?
Why Colston’s head had to hit the deck?
He’s in the river now

How’s your anosmia?
How’s your critical thinking?
How’s your sense of taste and smell?
Is George Floyd’s death starting to sink in?
Have you worked out why black lives matter yet?
Why Colston’s head had to hit the deck?
He’s in the river now

Oh you only like protest that’s achingly polite
You don’t like it when police and protesters fight
It doesn’t matter to you who brought the provocation
It’s enough to fuel your indignation
You’ve stopped worrying if black lives matter yet
You’re mad that Colston’s head has hit the deck
Well, he’s in the river now

The man made his money out of trading slaves
Imagine walking past that every day
Imagine living in a society
That still celebrates guys like these
So have you worked out why black lives matter yet?
Why Colston’s head had to hit the deck?
He’s in the river now

Sometimes you don’t get by asking nicely
Even if you frame your demands precisely
Sometimes the state will respond with violence
If they disapprove of your lack of silence
Have you worked out why black lives matter yet?
Why Colston’s head had to hit the deck?
He’s in the river now

The man made his money out of trading slaves
Imagine walking past that every day
Imagine living in a society
That still celebrates guys like these
So have you worked out why black lives matter yet?
Why Colston’s head had to hit the deck?
He’s in the river now

 

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Here’s the New Normal

 

You’ll need a big fridge to hide Johnson in,
You’ll need a much bigger one for the trail of bodies that he’s left behind.
The worst prime minister in history
Tells parliament to consider the carnage to be a source of pride.

Don’t ask about the new normal,
The new normal is worried about breathing,
The new normal is a daily government briefing
To announce how many they killed today
And didn’t they all do well, hooray!

Here’s the new normal.

You’ll need a big fridge to hide Johnson in
But there’s a circus of liars to fill in the gaps while he runs and hides.
To tell you all how well they’re all doing
With the death toll rising nicely pictured on coloured slides.

Don’t ask about the new normal,
The new normal is worried about breathing,
The new normal is a daily government briefing,
To announce how many they killed today
And didn’t they all do well, hooray!

Here’s the new normal.

Turning people into bodies,
Turning bodies into numbers,
Turning numbers into charts,
Turning charts into soundbites,
Turning soundbites into slogans,
Here’s the new normal.

Don’t ask about the new normal,
The new normal is worried about breathing,
The new normal is a daily government briefing,
To announce how many they killed today
And didn’t they all do well, hooray!

Here’s the new normal.

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More on Masks

Should I be wearing a mask?
We asked
In March
And April
And May,
And now they say yay.
Not just OK
But you must.
Nonplussed,
How can we trust
An instruction apparently so picayune
They thought that it could wait ‘til June?

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Untitled (3rd June 2020)

Outside a crowd is shouting about what it really means to be black.
Inside Rees-Mogg’s campaigning to get his voting traditions back.
(It’s a matter of priorities
And MPs with propensities
For higher risk of the disease
Are not one of his).
And how many of the inside crowd
No longer say the words out loud,
The traders and the bankers
Who were “All Lives Matter” wankers.
Who’s to be shamed
Into actual change?
When the most police stops for COVID-19
To slow spread in the community
Are of people who are BAME
While Dominic Cummings gets off scot-free.
A union jack in a profile picture
Guarantees a negative response.
Who cares if the UK’s sicker?
Or the spread is quicker?
The inequality slicker?
And thicker?
If that’s what the Tommylicker thinks he wants.
They might say
That we’ve come a long way
To make society better,
To ease the virus pressure.
(While ignoring the disease unfortunately
Affects black people disproportionately).
But the people and the science both know
That we’ve still got some way to go.

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8 Minutes 46 Seconds

It took eight minutes and forty-six seconds
For Derek Chauvin to kill George Floyd
Black folks killed by racist police
A conversation that the nation can no longer avoid

Having to explain why black lives matter
To the colour-blinds and the don’t-want-to-listens
While righteous anger boils over in the streets
‘Cos it’s not even equality, it’s a fight for existence

The Racist-in-Chief threatens vicious dogs
Accompanied by ominous weapons
Summoning the far-white militia crowd
A long hot summer definitely beckons

From Blackout Tuesday to Stand Up Wednesday
How many deaths? How much longer?
From burn it up to resist the clampdown
Take a knee, together we’re stronger

It took eight minutes and forty-six seconds
For Derek Chauvin to kill George Floyd
Who wants to argue that oppression of a black man
Protects the status quo by which he’s employed?

Having to explain why black lives matter
To the colour-blinds and the head-in-the-sanders
Hiding behind all lives matter
Happy to be disapproving bystanders

The Racist-in-Chief threatens the National Guard
Accompanied by heavy arms
A nod and a wink to the KKK
Hands up don’t shoot still won’t prevent harm

From Blackout Tuesday to Stand Up Wednesday
How many deaths? How much longer?
From burn it up to resist the clampdown
Take a knee, together we’re stronger

A solidarity message from the football club
Sentiments you share with your mates down the pub
Be honest about privilege, be honest about race
Together we can make the world a better place

It took eight minutes and forty-six seconds
For Derek Chauvin to kill George Floyd
A simple demand to lend your voice
And end to racism, justice for George

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Derek

Derek thinks that the lockdown’s over
Derek says get on with recovery
Derek’s got the phone-in on the blower
Derek won’t buy anything Chinese

Derek thinks Cummings should’ve got the sack
Derek voted to take control back
Derek has faith in the British public
Derek doesn’t know anyone that’s been sick

Derek doesn’t get it, though he sometimes might
Derek’s mostly wrong but occasionally right
He’s casually racist, not politically correct
Derek still had a vote last time I checked

Derek is a fan of strong leadership
Derek now thinks that Johnson will fail
If he supports an advisor who’s a liar, which
Is as welcome in Clacton as a beached whale

Derek doesn’t get it, though he sometimes might
Derek’s mostly wrong but occasionally right
He’s casually racist, not politically correct
Derek still had a vote last time I checked

He says if the virus don’t get him, something else will
As he rolls another fag and throws a burger on the grill
Derek says the risks are overrated
But he’ll follow the rules that’ve been promulgated

And he’s a regular caller to the Farage show
From the confines of his seaside bungalow
Nigel says it and Derek agrees
And Derek won’t buy anything Chinese

Derek doesn’t get it, though he sometimes might
Derek’s mostly wrong but occasionally right
He’s casually racist, not politically correct
Derek still had a vote last time I checked

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Professor Jonathan Van-Tam

Van-Tam’s a football fan
It’s Boston United for the government’s man.
That’s why he helped them to decide
To allow you games of three-a-side.
He hopes it’ll help you to keep fit
If you don’t tear the pants out if it.

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On Not Following the Science

It took the Cummings fiasco
For the government to let go
Of the scientific say so
With a bribe so shallow
For a back to work heigh-ho
And an off to school you go.

It’s still early you know,
The numbers could grow
But there’s no economic flow
As they tire of furlough
It’s about the dough
This public health blow,
Not keeping the R low
It’s about what we owe.

They claim progress although
The numbers don’t show
That we’re within a stone’s throw
Of Wuhan or Guangzhou,
We’re more Moscow than Tokyo
Or Montevideo;
While the White House sideshow
Lets Trump have a go
At the WHO.

So, when they say that they know
What you know they don’t know
And with words that sound hollow
Tell you to follow
And tell you to go
Reserve your right to say no.

Track Trace

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