Tag: songwriting

Five Tests

Joanna’s trying to listen to the press conference
Jason’s chatting ‘bout Brexit but it’s getting tense
Quiet she says before I lose my tolerance
I don’t understand this rule
I don’t want Mum going back to work in that school

He says it’s just another day to bury bad news
If you were in Ireland, you might have a different view
If we don’t pay attention there’s a lot to lose
She says I can’t think about that now it’s cruel
I’m too worried ‘bout Mum going back to that school

Five tests
They keep talking ‘bout five tests
They keep talking ‘bout five tests
But I can’t tell what they’ve met

You know her health’s not good but she’s not protected
So, you’ll forgive me if I’m a little disconnected
Heaven help her if she got infected
And she can only see her grandkids on Zoom
But they’re making her go back to work in that school

Five tests
They keep talking ‘bout five tests
They keep talking ‘bout five tests
But I can’t tell what they’ve met

He said yeah, I hear you I know what they’re like
They’ll risk the economy against a second spike
Hopefully the teachers will all go on strike
Don’t listen to that Dowden fool
No one wants your mum back to work in that school
(Not ‘til she’s ready)

Five tests
They keep talking ‘bout five tests
They keep talking ‘bout five tests
But I can’t tell what they’ve met
Five tests
They keep talking ‘bout five tests
They keep talking ‘bout five tests
But I can’t tell what they’ve met

by Categories: COVID-19, Lyrics, SteveTags: , , , , , 1 Comment

Work Is Safe (Tell ‘Em)

Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe
Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe

Gove said that he can guarantee
Your total in-school safety
Then he said that nothing’s ever safe

Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe
Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe

A key part of his calculation
Is that the kids stay in formation
Like they would actually stay six feet apart

Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe
Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe

Breathing is safer than talking
Talking is safer than walking and talking
And breathing and talking
And walking and talking
Are all safer than singing
And singing’s safer than coughing
And coughing’s safer than sneezing
So, if you’re sneezing and you’re coughing
And you’re coughing and you’re singing
And you’re singing and you’re walking
And you’re walking and you’re talking
And you’re talking and you’re breathing

Don’t let the risks accumulate
Don’t add the risks you have to take
To the risks that you don’t have to take

Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe
Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe

Gove said that he can guarantee
Your total in-school safety
Then he said that nothing’s ever safe

Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe
Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe

The other thing that they advise
To radically reduce class size
No one knows where the extra classrooms are

Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe
Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe

Breathing is safer than talking
Talking is safer than walking and talking
And breathing and talking
And walking and talking
Are all safer than singing
And singing’s safer than coughing
And coughing’s safer than sneezing
So, if you’re sneezing and you’re coughing
And you’re coughing and you’re singing
And you’re singing and you’re walking
And you’re walking and you’re talking
And you’re talking and you’re breathing

Don’t let the risks accumulate
Don’t add the risks you have to take
To the risks that you don’t have to take

Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe
Work is safe, tell ‘em work is safe

by Categories: COVID-19, Lyrics, SteveTags: , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Britain First Want Their Virus Back

Tin foil hat, plastic union jack
Britain First want their virus back
A party in the park for the unbelievers
Some of whom will go home with fevers
Roll up, roll, up, come and see
Their latest conspiracy

Tin foil hat, plastic union jack
Britain First want their virus back
They believe in freedom and sovereignty
They believe in a world that’s vaccine-free
Roll up, roll, up, come and see
Their latest conspiracy

Tin foil hat, plastic union jack
Britain First want their virus back
Attempting poor far-right recruitment
Inventing the UK Freedom Movement
Roll up, roll, up, come and see
Their latest conspiracy

“End the lockdown” say the fash
Come to our Saturday picnic bash
Come and listen to racist speakers
But please try to stay apart two metres
Tin foil hat, plastic union jack
Britain First want their virus back

by Categories: COVID-19, Lyrics, SteveTags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Heigh-Ho

We turned on our morning radio show
To hear the traffic was running slow
We really didn’t want to go
On the day Johnson that cried “Heigh-Ho”

There’s a one-way system but the canteen’s shut
And social distancing on site’s full of “but”
Who’s ill here? We don’t want to know
On the day that Johnson cried “Heigh-Ho”

Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho the many for the few
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho not them but me and you

You should cover your face to get the bus
But it looks like that might be just us
The tube is elbow to elbow
On the day that Johnson cried “Heigh-Ho”

The Commons floor is covered in tape
They’re dialling in to their debates
That’s not an option for many though
On the day that Johnson cried “Heigh-Ho”

Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho the many for the few
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho not them but me and you

There’s problems at the Blackwall Tunnel
There’s problems on the A13
There’s problems at Canning Town station
We hear police are on the scene

Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho the many for the few
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho not them but me and you

Life under the curve suggests
That we might not be halfway yet
The numbers are gonna continue grow
On the day that Johnson cried “Heigh-Ho”

Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho the many for the few
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho not them but me and you

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Too Little, or Just Not Enough

She just wants to know if we’re over the worst
She doesn’t really know what it means to be alert
She doesn’t understand why business comes first
And when it comes to the government’s bluff
It’s either too little, or just not enough

He was reading a story about a company
Whose sole director is the Health Secretary
Whose sole responsibility is PPE
But when it comes to the government’s bluff
It’s either too little, or just not enough

She just wants to know if it’s safe to go to work
She doesn’t really know what it means to be alert
How can you tell if there’s a virus being dispersed?
When it comes to the government’s bluff
It’s either too little, or just not enough

He was reading a story about track and trace
About a phone app that folk were failing to embrace
That didn’t work on older phones in any case
And when it comes to the government’s bluff
It’s either too little, or just not enough

She just wants to know if it’s safe to go out
The media are calling her a lazy layabout
But Stay Alert just fills her full of doubt
‘Cos when it comes to the government’s bluff
It’s either too little, or just not enough

They sat up on Sunday to watch the TV
Looking for comfort from the man on the screen
But now they’re just more scared than they’ve ever been
‘Cos when it came to the government’s bluff
It was too little, and just not enough

by Categories: COVID-19, Lyrics, SteveTags: , , , , , 1 Comment

VE Day

She remembers her grandfather’s tales
Of wartime Walthamstow
The siren sound and the queue for the chip shop
That refused to go
A time of national pulling together
The rule-breakers airbrushed from history
And she wonders in 75 years’ time
If this is how they’ll tell her story

He’s got little truck with flags and bunting
Wants his workers’ holiday back
For him it’s just another too cynical
Tory government attack
A time of national coming together
Incompetent donkeys at the helm
And he wonders in 75 years’ time
What kind of stories are they going to tell?

She says can’t you just do it for the kids
A little party we’ll have a nice time
The Europe-wide defeat of fascism
Doesn’t that at least chime?
A time of national coming together
Suffer a little red, white and blue
And I wonder in 75 years’ time
If anyone will remember us too

OK, you’ve got a point I guess
We’ll party for the partisans and the rest
Just don’t expect me to acquiesce
To the Tories setting fireworks for the NHS
And I don’t expect there to be a finale
Of Vera Lynn singing The Internationale
A time of national coming together
I’ll suffer a little red, white and blue
And I wonder in 75 years’ times
If anyone will remember us two

by Categories: COVID-19, Lyrics, SteveTags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Professor Lockdown (A Love Story of Sorts)

Professor Lockdown loved Antonia Staats
Isolation could break their hearts
At home her husband might have had the virus
But she said neither Thames nor disease will divide us

It was wrong and they knew it
There’s no way to misconstrue it
They thought they could get through it
But the press knew too
They didn’t run the story
‘Til they needed a furore
To steal headline glory
From the numbers breaking through

Professor Lockdown loved Antonia Staats
On one day in April and one in March
Is his expert opinion that the strategy’s wrong?
We’ll never know now that his job in SAGE has gone

It was wrong and they knew it
There’s no way to misconstrue it
They thought they could get through it
But the press knew too
They didn’t run the story
‘Til they needed a furore
To steal headline glory
From the numbers breaking through

Professor Lockdown loved Antonia Staats
Doomed lover victims of the press dark arts
A million crimes that the expert might commit
But there’s no way we’ll ever forgive a hypocrite

It was wrong and they knew it
There’s no way to misconstrue it
They thought they could get through it
But the press knew too
They didn’t run the story
‘Til they needed a furore
To steal headline glory
From the numbers breaking through

Professor Lockdown loved Antonia Staats
Epidemiology meets Avaaz
Now no one’s gonna want to be in her shoes
And his expert counsel’s now yesterday’s news

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The Sickest Man in Europe

The sickest man in Europe
Won two world wars and one world cup
The sickest man in Europe
Didn’t want to mess the economy up
The sickest man in Europe’s
Looking forward to VE day
The sickest man in Europe’s
Hearing how many died today

The sickest man in Europe
Is following the science
Thinks it’s untainted
By political bias
The sickest man in Europe
Is following the science
Loves respect
and minute’s silence

The sickest man in Europe’s
Hearing how many died today
The sickest man in Europe’s
Looking forward to VE day

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Are You Ready?

Are you ready?

Nigel says are you ready?
His will is firm
But his logic’s unsteady
But if your saddle’s sweaty
Or your business finance messy

Nigel reckons you’re ready

Richard says are you ready?
Him and Judy
Want to go steady
But she’s locked down already
He thinks it’s petty
He thinks she’s ready

To end the lockdown

There ain’t no vaccine
No antibody test
We ain’t even started track and trace yet
Matt hit his target
But only for a day
By the first of May
It had fallen away

Are you ready?

Are you ready?
To break the two-metre rule?
To go back to work?
To go back to school?
Are you ready?
Does the tube look attractive?
Is it time to be
Economically active?

Are you ready?

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