There's only one way of life
And that's your own
My father when I was younger
Took me up on to the hill
That looked down on the city smog
Above the factory spill
He said this is where I come
When I want to be free
Well he never was in his lifetime
But these words stuck with me
I ran from all of this
And I climbed that highest hill
And looked down on my life
Beneath the factory spill
I looked down onto my life
As the family disgrace
Then to all my friends on the starting line
Their wages off to chase
And all my friends and all their jobs
And all the bloody waste
CHORUS
I grew up, learned to love and laugh
Circled A's on the underpass
But the noise we thought would never stop
Died a death as the punks grew up
And we choked on our dreams
We wrestled with our fears
Running through the heartless streets
Chasing our ideas
And the problems of the world
Won't be solved by this guitar
And they won't stop coming either
By the life I've had so far
And the bright lights of my home town
Won't be getting any dimmer
Though their calling has receded now
Like some old distant singer
And they don't seem so appealing
To the eyes of this poor sinner
CHORUS
The Bar was dark and quiet and still
And nothing could be heard
The dust lay undisturbed
At a table near the back, underneath a fan
Two mean shared a joke about the normal folk
Two cards on the table
The winner takes it all
The game is nearly over
One man about to fall
I don't believe in heaven
I don't believe in hell
I don't believe what I am seeing
This is no game, can't you tell
"I'm calling your bluff!" the first man said
"The people went to war, they always wanted more
How could I ever fail to lose
They can' take it any more, they want to end the score"
The second man showed his hand
Some walked barefoot across the land
Many have seen the future
And are doing the best they can
CHORUS
The clock ticked past the final hour
Which of the men had lost? and what was the cost?
The glasses now ere empty and gone
To wash away the shame, and take away the pain
One man left the table
The other, head in hands
Paid the bill for the defeated
The only thing left that stands
CHORUS
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a boatman
Along the canals and the rivers free
No hasty words are spoken
My only law the river breeze
Would take me to the open seas
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a boatman
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a rover
And if the road was not for me
Then I would choose another
Across mountains and valleys deep
I would take these weary feet
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a rover
But these things are so hard for me
I cannot choose my own destiny
And all the things that I want to see
Are so unclean
I wish I could choose the life I please
But I am not a free man
Others choose my destiny
But my will is never broken
I know someday I will be
Everything that I dreamed I'd be
If I could choose the life I pleased
Then I would be a boatman
If I could choose the life I lead, then I would be a
spaceman,
Take LSD and Ecstasy, and I'll be off my face, man
Oh, this Ecstasy, it does strange things to me,
If I could choose the life I lead, then I would be a
spaceman.
There's one too many, two too many holes
Getting bigger in the garden wall
And the people looking in are getting busy, getting bad
Trying to suss it all
They're trying to get to me, to take my liberty
Got to go, go on, get out of here, cos
This means nothing to me
The way things were is the way I wanna be
They're sending the elite, complete with guns
To advertise the way to go
Facing through the fa to make it clear
That they're the ones who know
They're trying to get to me, to take my liberty
It's warm by the river, the weir keeps us clean
The woodsmoke and cigarettes are all that we need
Marking the dirt with twigs and simple words spoke
Kicking the dust so we can just
Dance the dance that plays with fire
Play guitar and play inspired
You said that you would leave not ever
Underneath the sky forever
It's cool by the sea when the pavement is hot
We take a walk sown there to see what we've got
An old man collecting fifty beautiful words
Cleaning the beach so he can teach us to
CHORUS
It's cold by the pane glass on the high street we played
But there's always a penny in the music we made
So far from home with no means of return
Burning bridges, so we always
CHORUS
We're so far from home
No need to return
There's so much that we have taught
And so much that we have learned
The year was 1991, it seems that freedom is dead and gone
The power of the rich is held by few
Keep the young paralyzed, educated by your lies
Keep the old ones happy with the news
Tell the singer not to song his song
Tell the poet that she's wrong
And in the courts you'll win the case with lies
Cos you sold them down the river-o
Do I belong to some ancient race
I like to walk in ancient places
These are things that I can understand
I don't believe in your modern way
Don't care about the things you say
Your policies have failed the test of time
Cos you sold them down the river-o
Now in a land not far away, there's men in prison because they say
The colour of your skin is not a question
Did you rally to their side
No, you sat back and let them die
I don't know how you get to sleep at night
CHORUS
Your money market goes round and round
The pound goes up, the dollar goes down
You need the power for your new towns
Cos you get scared when the night comes down
Won't you tell me where it is that we are bound
CHORUS
Gunshots shatter the peace of night
It's just another fire fight
For the people of this little town
But for the dying soldier
He's feeling ten years older
And he's lying face down on the ground
All the words that are in his head
Are all the words his mother said
As she would put him to bed back home
Your daddy died in the last war
Fighting for another man's cause
And your brother he was killed in the Falklands
Now your mother's lying home alone
Every day she sees his face
On the picture on the fireplace
With your brother as he was leaving school
Then a day came five years ago
You said, "Mother, I need to know"
And you spoke the words your brother spoke before
"I know the things my Daddy done
I've seen the medals that he won
And I know that this is what he would have wanted for me."
CHORUS
And now she wonders at it all
How many more are going to answer the call
To fight and die in another country's war
To die for a religion they have never believed in at all
To die in a place they never should have been at all
No, never been at all
CHORUS
Headlights, white lights, black tar rivers
Dragging me around this country as it whithers
The billboards, signposts, standing in the way
Tell of the state of the nations, that we find today
And we play and we play
To every day, every day
To every day
In the front rooms of old towns far from the city
With beat up guitars and hearts full of pity
The people gather round singing songs from everywhere
Torn from the nation, left without a care
CHORUS
And we'll rid the bloody world for a moment in a word
And we'll rid the bloody world cos
The words that you heard when you were young will always stay
The one's that always stay make the world go away
Warm night, clear sky, European town
Out side the bars singing their hearts out to a crowd
Open boots, violin, banjo and a voice
Exiled buskers, happy with their choice
CHORUS
I met you in 82, over a crate of beer and not a few
I cracked a can and so did you, we're going to change the world
The ghetto kings of downside town-the estates and parks of our hallowed ground
Doing anything that we found, and on the river flowed
You'd take a drink from Rev. Jimmy Jones
You'd cross the street on the path the gunman roams
Thrown aside and left to waste, that was you - you knew your place
Wander round, get off your face, and on the river flowed
On and on the river flow - we are the undertow
On and on the river flow - we are the undertow
I don't know how you made it through all the smoke and brew you do
It sure has left its mark on you but you're still with us today
Life goes on and round we go and words can kill these things I know
Sometimes you cut deeply so, but on the river flows
You'd set the table for barber Sweeney Todd
You'd clip the wings of any rising god
But man can't live on hope alone, it can be cut all that is grown
Broke your spirit but not your bones and on the river flows
CHORUS
You're working now - forced to the race
I know it left a bitter taste
But the rising tide had covered your face
Nothing you could do
But I still remember the day you said
That the river flowing through my head
Would take me far or leave me dead
And all you said was true
I thought I heard someone calling me
I've seen the pictures on TV
And I made up my mind that I would go and see
With my own eyes
It didn't take too long to hitch a ride
With a guy going south to start a new life
Past the place where my friend died
Two years ago
Down the 303 at the end of the road
Flashing lights - exclusion zones
And it made me think it's not just the stones
That they're guarding
Hey, hey, can't you see
There's nothing here that you can call free
They're getting their kicks
Laughing at you an me
As the sun rose on the beanfield
They came like wolf on the fold
And they didn't give a warning
They took their bloody toll
I see a pregnant woman
Lying in blood of her own
I see her children crying
As the police tore apart her home
And no they didn't need a reason
It's what your votes condone
It seems they were committing treason
By trying to live on the road
CHORUS
I never was a violent man
Said the man in the bar with his head in his hands
Trying his best to understand the cause of his dismay
But years of gin have broken him
And left him cold where he fitted in
It's too late to turn around and find another way
All the lights in the late night lock-in
Fade away when he gets in
And the girl from fifteen years ago
Has packed and gone away
She said it'll never be what it used to be
What happened to all that energy
You took too many liberties, and I'm tired of being afraid
So night after night she took flight
Hiding swollen eyes and a wounded pride
The best years of her life denied, sold for liquid shares
Chorus
The victims of this world, are advertised on posters
A beach and a pretty girl, if you just drink their potion
It's another week 'til his cheque comes through
He's got a fiver left to spend on food
But the doors of the bar are open, and he breaks another rule
He sits on the stool that bears his name
His favorite glass is called the same
And he's never kept waiting, 'cos he pays the landlord's wage
Chorus