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Retrospective: 2013 To 2019

by Slow Faction

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1.
Little England Going nowhere but looking back Drape yourself in your Union Jack From the terrace to the House of Lords Shut off from the outside world All the time you’re destroying what you love This is real life, not some national park Close your eyes to the 21st century Heritage – our only industry Is this what you want? A little England? Is this what you want? Faded empire glory? Is this what you want? A past without a future? Things can never stay the same So you hate what you don’t understand You say you stand for the common man So you know your history? You only see what you want to see So you talk about sovereignty The pride of England and the head of the Queen The purity of your national tribe You only aim – to repel the tide ......Is this really what you want?.......
2.
Country boy with a guitar in his hand He travels far across this land and Documents everything he sees With songs of brutal honesty and He makes a stand He draws a line in the sand His truth is principled He’ll never sell it out And now he’s singing This machine kills fascists Yes, he’s singing This guitar kills fascists Small town in depression times No work, no hope, just blighted lives A harsh and violent, hateful place They thought black gold their saving grace but The oil men came They took everything They stripped the whole town bare And then they went again So now he’s singing This machine kills fascists Yes, he’s singing This guitar kills fascists So now we’re heading for the great depression of the 21st century The clampdown’s happening So where can we find Woody Guthrie now? He wrote his songs of liberty This land belongs to you and me But not all get to have their way If you’re poor or black you’ve got no say and He went to war To fight the racist state And then he came back home To find the same thing there....
3.
He sacrificed his youth to a war – that he didn’t believe in One nation’s collective madness brought the whole world crashing down And when she saw the man she loved – returning from the front line He was just an empty shell – broken by the things he’d seen there… And he’s got nothing more to give – and never said a word… As he walks the lonely streets as he knows he can’t go home And she just has to carry on – and never said a word… Resigned to a life where she’s the one who’s strong. Everywhere he goes he always sees the reminders The ones who waved their flags back then are the ones who profit afterwards And she’s just trapped there on her own – alone with the children Abandoned by her broken man – they always ask when is he coming home? He watches the Sunday procession – just like a trade convention Power and money and religion unite in timeless continuity She has a simple faith – the strength to simply struggle on.. A faith that’s so much purer than this pious display of hypocrisy.. He goes to everyone he knows – trying to get the money To rent a hotel room – at least for an hour or two She puts her best dress on and goes to see him She hates the way they have to meet and tells him things have got to change now
4.
Call on every God you know They've got to help us now We've ruined everything And we're coming to the end We were given all too much Everything we need But we've thrown it all away Destroyed it with our greed There's too much darkness in the world The sun will never shine anymore All we ever crave is peace All we ever see is war... It's 59 minutes past 11 now The clocks are set - we've crashed and burned till there's nothing left Now it's too late - it's too late to turn back time There's this image in my head A poster on the wall I saw it everywhere So many years ago Then we thought the danger passed We came in from the cold The walls came tumbling down Was this the Brave New World? But the killing never stops Hatred always reigns supreme There's no profit in stability It always pays to have enemies... Somebody save us from ourselves Help us find our humanity Or are we set upon this course? Is it too late for sanity? But the killing never stops Hatred always reigns supreme There's no profit in stability It always pays to have enemies....
5.
Live In Fear 06:24
Passers-by never look you in the eye You don’t look so different ‘cept the colour of your skin They segregate the housing, they segregate the schools There are certain parts of town where they say whites rule Faceless leaders stir up trouble down amongst the poor So nobody knows who they’re really fighting for All you wanted was a peaceful life To go about your business which is everybody’s right Every time you go out you can sense hostility You no longer feel safe when you’re walking down the street The insults are still ringing in your ears when you come home An Englishman’s castle – they don’t think so Live in Fear – they say you’re never going to fit in round here The boys on the corner are always shouting at you They say they’re going to get you, no one is ever going to save you Live in Fear – they say you’re never going to fit in round here The boys on the corner are always shouting at you They say they’re going to get you tonight Your children know the western way This is their homeland what can anybody say? Of course, you’ve got your culture and your heritage That’s something to be proud of and to teach the kids And they respect the past, yet at the very same time They’re modern teenagers, they’ve got their lives Going out to the clubs and bars The town centre’s heaving till the very early hours There’s always fighting in the streets when nightclubs close their doors The small town desperation of the mindless, drunk and bored The local paper always features all the latest facts The rise in crime and the racist attacks In the night when the pubs are closing You hear their shouts and laughter You hear their drunken singing You hear their threats of violence You hear their voices calling You hear their footsteps on the pavement You hear them getting closer Are they coming tonight?
6.
Burning 02:29
When Billy was small he was hooked on Defender Escaping to hyperspace far from a father Who lived like a madman and who loved like the weather Loves those without a shelter Billy’s estate was a liberal’s nightmare They feel for the need but none of them lived there They plead for a change in the detail of welfare In a system that’s not fair Oh, it’s time to go, turn on the lights and the radio Through darkness, rain, through wind and snow Burn the memories, burn the road Billy grew up from the high scores to draw And the thrills and the spills with his mates in a four door Escaping was easy and all that he lived for What more could he live for? Everything seemed fair game in his eyes Scavenged from those outraged and surprised About the law of the jungle and the truth of the liars They were jackals for the lions Fly through the new towns, free at night With a buzzing brain and a laser sight Cat and mouse, a flashing blue light Straight ahead, they’re right behind The games too easy, Billy’s up an alley Like an arrow, the sirens follow Screaming like there’s no tomorrow Swerve around, a sudden thud Another screen that’s dripping blood
7.
Alien Nation 03:35
I saw you on the news last night Was it you or someone else? Who talks and sounds and looks like you From the manicured hands to the shiny black shoes I used to be angry but it’s hard to care When everywhere I look I just see despair And the ever growing rift between the rulers and the ruled It’s time to tear it down and just start again There’s something wrong Career politicians who have never had a real job There’s something wrong They’re like the landed gentry of the nineteenth century This is an alien nation It’s a country I don’t recognise now This is an alien nation The divide’s getting ever wider The richest one percent have taken all the money We’re left to feed off their crumbs They hold all the power but there’s no accountability So I pick up my morning paper An industry that’s out of control I see a world of deceit and corruption You’re supposed to write the stories not be the news You hack the phones of murdered children Intimidate those that need protection Police and politicians are in your pay A toothless watchdog never stands in your way There’s something wrong These seekers of truth reduced to bullying and lying now There’s something wrong Where can I turn to if I want to find integrity? So I listen to my radio They’re talking to some masters of the universe These fallen Gods who know no shame No contrition, they’ll just do it all again We’re paying the price for hubristic pride The burden falls on the vulnerable So please don’t be poor in this land of ours You’re going to get crushed and there’s no hiding place now There’s something wrong Financial institutions prey to gambling addiction and There’s something wrong The weakest bear the debt of their irresponsibility
8.
Breaking up... Disintegration... Hostility... Confrontation... Ever really wondered why you’re out there on your own Food for thought – for one in six billion You talk and you talk, then you talk some more But what’s the point – when no one’s listening? It’s better to destroy Thank seek a compromise You’d rather say good-bye Self- justify with lies Turn and run and hide You say you’ve got your pride And now you’re on your own Sitting all alone Manipulate... Stipulation... Castigate... Agitation Brow-beat the weak to get your own way No one denies the Big I Am Better not stray from the party-line Or watch the baby through the rattle from the pram Insecure... Paranoid Power-crazed... So schizoid You always want control because you can’t control yourself Count to ten before you answer Always on the verge of overload All because you can’t take the pressure
9.
D Lister 03:37
Round and round the world they go They’re looking for some boys and girls They’re going to make you House you, feed you, re-create you Doesn’t matter if you can’t sing You’re going to be the latest thing Your dance routines Get copied by the nation’s pre-teens Don’t worry you’ve got nothing to say Another cover version is on its way You’re in the morning papers – what can you do? You’re on the radio – what can you do? You’re on the television – what can you do? It’s a mystery to me Another round of failed auditions Desperate for recognition You’re getting nowhere The scrap-heap’s getting ever closer Nothing reeks like failed ambition Get to grips with your frustration The London scene A place where you can see and be seen Hitch a ride with a rising star It’s the only way that you’ll get far There’s a fly upon your wall Watching you to show us all A life that’s real What you think and how you feel Enjoy it now it won’t last long Your fifteen minutes have come and gone The emptiness Sit back – enjoy the loneliness No one seems to care at all Now you’re not famous anymore You were in the morning papers – what could you do? You were on the radio – what could you do? You were on the television – what could you do? It was a mystery to me
10.
Downtown in the city of dreams Your personal paradise Or is it hell, so tantalising You’ll never feel satisfied Blinded by the lights Consumption takes the place of feeling The only values now are empty and devoid of meaning You’re boring me with your mundane lives – so predictable Just shopping malls and suburbia – so predictable Evil happens while the stupid just sit by That’s you if you hadn’t noticed Will you never decide which side you’re on....oh no..... You deny society In your disinfected life Privileged since the day you were born Susceptible to their lies Sleepwalking to a right wing future Going to take us nowhere All you care about is what you want and how you get it And all the time....the storm clouds are gathering... We’re heading for oblivion
11.
Oblivion 05:00
A claustrophobic place to live Rigid rules and discipline A hostile legacy Of the previous century An anxious childhood full of pain No understanding, only blame A suicide attempt in vain So they had him sent away He just wants to stay at home He has to try to be alone By day he dreams of peace Of idyllic domestic bliss But he knows that the wolf inside Can never be satisfied Until it takes control In the struggle for his soul… As darkness falls, turn down the lights – oblivion He dies a little more each night – oblivion Dull the ego, numb the pain – oblivion No strength left to live or die So he dies his ‘little death’ each night The city’s calling with its lights A different world comes out at night Cabaret and music halls He can’t resist the siren calls Gambling dens and red-lit bars He knows all the secret doors By night he gives in to lust By day only self-disgust Internal dissonance External decadence As the dreams of Weimar fade A polarised confusion reigns There’s fighting on the streets As the nationalist fever grows As the old order falls apart He escapes into his own world So now the sun’s setting on the old regime as politics diverges to the far extremes A populist danger is infecting the land as they look for the ones who will make a stand What else can he do? Now the fascists are in power… What else can he do? When they label him a danger… What else can he do? When the Death Camps are waiting… What else can he do?
12.
So you think you’re smart – you’re taking us all for a ride A propaganda war machine so Josef Goebels never died Your games of power – the way you play with words You’ve got double standards – you just want to deceive us all With your lies – oh, ho ho You might say you’re against violence but violence is your trade One word headlines glorify a thousand lives laid to waste But it’s not your hypocrisy that really frightens me It’s the people that believe There’s an eighteen year old – he’s lying in a ditch A crime against humanity, celebrated by your Union Jacks There’s a country somewhere – an explosion in the night Freedom fighter, terrorist – you never give us the reason why... The reason why....oh, ho no So the terminals click – they’re going to shatter the world With scandal, violence, horror, sex – just what we want to read There’s a brand new movement, captivated by what you say A bright new army waiting to defend the values you set... Today....oh, ho ho
13.
Antifascist 03:01
There’s a new enemy – a major threat to society A secret cell in every town – doxing all the boys in brown President Orange calls them communists – subversive scum and anarchists He brands their actions terrorist-- he’d rather hang with supremacists Antifascist – Antifa It’s so easy – it’s so easy to do nothing and let evil thrive Antifascist – Antifa It’s quite simple – Antifascists and fascists are not the same This is the reality – the code word is Identity A new culture of migrant hate – stand up for the nation state The politics of now are here – with attitudes from yesteryear It’s not just racists on the rise – the far right’s getting organised They say it’s not so easy To tell the two sides apart They say they’re both extremists But only one side has race hate in their hearts You show no interest in your fate – just sit at home and vegetate Spoon-fed by big media lies – faculties anaesthetised They tell you there’s no difference – just keep on sitting on that fence It’s not you they’re coming for –just paint a red cross on your door
14.
Hate Mail 04:10
Little missy sitting pretty, waiting for the tube Her mind’s no wider than her alice band, she’s never seen the other side At public school she learned the rules on how to have it all And then at university, no need to think, just have a ball She reads her morning paper, it’s her window on the world She only skims the headlines but that’s still enough to poison minds Everything she thinks she knows, confirmed in black and white God is in his heaven and the leader writer speaks of what is right A world defined by narrow minds where everything conforms To opinions based on ignorance, self-centered fear and spite A nation held in thrall to all this doggerel and these lies I know you’ll always think you’re right with God and Middle England on your side She reads of single mothers and their scrounging off the state Left wing councils wasting millions, let’s just leave them to their fate Asylum seekers coming here in search of streets of gold Let’s send them back where they belong, even if they’re sick and old No good idlers signing on and working cash in hand Destroy the black economy, let’s practice zero tolerance The world you see is rational, you get what you deserve Let’s praise the rich and powerful and save our hatred for the feckless poor Focus groups and think tanks and the blinded and the bland The bull-barred middle classes drive triumphant up and down this land Politics dictated by the don’t knows and don’t cares Ignorance is now a virtue, the guiding principle of our affairs
15.
Can’t you see, there’s a war going on out there? The whole country’s under lock-down now But you don’t really care You think it doesn’t affect you They’re cleansing the cities of the ones you’ll never meet As they evict them from their homes Social housing’s being torn down As they’re forced to the outer zones Can’t you see, there’s a war going on out there? It’s a fight for survival now But you don’t really care You think it doesn’t affect you Two million children live in poverty And they say we’re a civilised land The social contract’s been rescinded As a million queue for food banks So come on take my hand And I’ll lead you through this hell And I’ll show you everything That you deny is happening This hunger and this pain This mortal suffering I’ll show you it all So come on take my hand Can’t you see, there’s a war going on out there? They’re lying and a-cheating now But you don’t really care You think it doesn’t affect you The propaganda ministries Are working overtime To falsify the facts & figures And scare you into line Can’t you see, there’s a war going on out there? They’re dividing the whole country now But you don’t really care You think it doesn’t affect you They criticise and demonise Until your heart is filled with hate The weak, the poor, the vulnerable Are abandoned to their fate So you think you’ve got it good and you’ve got a nice life With your model kids and your Stepford wife So you’ve played the game and you’ve come so far With your house and your money and executive car You think you’re so secure as your boss loves you Because you do everything that he tells you to Everything is perfect, not a cloud in sight You’ve never had to struggle and you’ve never had to fight So what you going to do when it all comes crashing down And you’re left unprotected when the bad times come around You thought you’d lived the dream but there’s nothing left Just a mortgage in arrears and a mountain of debt And your new boss calls you in because he’s got bad news They’ve found someone younger and much cheaper than you So you see through all the lies and you finally see the truth There but for the Grace of God go you….
16.
Got a licence for syndication Pump it out, there’s poison in the air 55 hundred local stations Top 40 under central diktat The taming of a supine nation No time to think, you’re doing just what you’re told A disenfranchised population Segregated by the values they once held And now they’re trying to make you think the same So wave goodbye to your plurality, your civil liberties Your democracy is dead Clear channel fascist redneck radio Clear channel fascist redneck radio Clear channel fascist redneck radio Trivialise....broadcasting lies....lowest common denominator Mind control for the blinkered masses Clear channel fascist redneck radio....alright... A noble culture of toleration Now consigned to the values of the past What hope now for a generation? Brought up to hate anyone that’s different What’s the point in dissemination? Can’t you see, it’s easier just to lie Direct action and demonstrations Lone voices in the wilderness
17.
It's time to tear down all the myths Of empires built, wars waged and won They sell false pride in history They sell you lies so you can't see They've taken everything away And point elsewhere to assign the blame They've squandered all your heritage Everything - they've sold it all - and you got nothing... Poundland Society - I see the desperation - of this divided nation - wave your flags that's all that you've got left They started with a futile war And made you play the patriot Then they came for the unions And took away your working rights They closed down all the factories Generations laid to waste They said it's worth the price you paid But as things changed you were left behind - you were left with nothing... Now in this world of demagogues They stir up hatred to unite So you rally one more time Behind your flags of ignorance I'll leave you now as you celebrate The hollowness of your victory Your aim was so wide of the mark You've handed power to the enemy - and you'll always have nothing Poundland Society - I see the desperation - of this divided nation - enjoy the independence - of your bargain bin fucked existence - you've got your sovereignty now - say hello to penury now - wave your flags that's all that you've got left
18.
He’s a real Firestarter He’s an arch racist A lying wife-beater And a white supremacist He’s the alt-right fanboy Of Mephistopheles Whispering seduction In ambitious ears Infiltrate the mainstream and peddle hate Contaminate the language to control and manipulate I see it in their eyes – just fascists in disguise I see through all their lies – just fascists in disguise The truth will never die – just fascists in disguise It’s time to take up sides America The Beautiful It’s karaoke night But he can’t see all the right arms He says he’s got bad sight He calls the Daily Stormer To solicit their views For an article he’s writing For Breitbart news Little Tommy name-change has some powerful friends With very deep pockets so the funding never ends A nationalist network with an international reach They organise a rally in the name of Free Speech They put them on a coach and they bring them all down To infect our streets and infect our town But we don’t want these knuckle-draggers around This is our home – this is London!
19.
They’re closing down the clubs, they’re closing down the city As they build another shopping mall They’ll keep us dumb with the muzak on As we buy stupid things we don’t need Reality show make us famous for a day Become a D-list celebrity The emptiness of our hopes and dreams Is this all we ever want to be? And we all sit at home and pray to the West To our false God, Democracy They pretend our opinions really count We pretend that we’re really free Now it’s time to turn the television on As darkness falls we won’t go out again There’s a media blackout on the voices of dissent As they lead us to another war There’s a bogey-man bearing arms from the West They deny that it’s all about oil There is a real war, but it’s not the one we think, It’s the one waged by the rich upon the poor With insatiable greed they’ve taken everything And now they’re coming back for more They’re wiring every town and they’re wiring every street So they can monitor us everywhere we go With CCTV and satellite spies We know we can never be alone MI5 are being tasked to listen in As they erode our civil liberties But what do we care if we’ve lost our rights As long as the television’s on… We’ll never take the streets again - Wake up look around we’re under heavy manner - There’s a water cannon waiting and it’s paid for by our taxes - Let’s tear it all down that’s the only solution - They call this freedom but it doesn’t apply to us!
20.
So you think you’re radical So you think you know it all Do you live life on the edge? Does your conscience never rest? You’re just playing at being The good bourgeois of such well-meaning But you’ll only know A life that’s beamed from a television studio Armchair revolution – riot in suburbia Armchair revolution – tear down all those garden fences Armchair revolution – smash in all those televisions Armchair revolution So you always rant and rave You’re heading for an early grave Your blood pressure goes sky-high As you contemplate ‘real life’ You just moan all day There’s got to be another way You’ll never do anything You’re too busy tilting at the windmills in your mind You’re an armchair warrior Make the tea and wage class wars Sit at home and smash the state Man imagined barricades No one’s listening Just hollow words no one believes in Don’t you realise You’re a Walter Mitty for domestic paranoids

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released May 28, 2020

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Slow Faction London, UK

“Slow Faction is a 1st generation-influenced punk band with a real London 77 sound. The aim of Slow Faction is simple – to make the music they want to hear; politically-charged songs with big hooks and choruses, reminiscent of the 1st wave of British punk. Slow Faction’s live sound has been described as a cross between The Clash and The Buzzcocks.” ... more

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