The banquet troughs are swollen ready for the feast As the rape of the land begins to seed The harvest disproportioned to sustain the need Of the heads of the land as they start to feed Power and obsession will scratch your itch But all the money in the world doesn't make you rich You know the price of everything, but the value of nothing at all As the auctioneer's hammer begins to fall Ch Impotent promises still fed to society From beneath the veil of authoritarian democracy A smiling face, the disguise of the wolf at the door This is a state declaration of war Now the pit shafts are flooded and the shells of factories burned Your life goes on, your world still turns Deepest sympathies offered, empty promises made Because the more you speak, the less you say Those left voiceless will suffer in silence Beneath the chimneys, beneath the pylons Smash and grab, tempt with debt as the interest trickles away From the hands of those that can't afford to pay Ch Impotent promises still fed to society From beneath the veil of authoritarian democracy A smiling face, the disguise of the wolf at the door This is a state declaration of war Now the politicians have all gone to ground In secret bunkers far away from town The palaces are on lock-down to protect the realm This ship it sails on with nobody at the helm Ch Impotent promises still fed to society From beneath the veil of authoritarian democracy A smiling face, the disguise of the wolf at the door This is a state declaration of war Now your grip is weakened, and you're losing your hold In your desperate fit of greed everything has been sold As the hooded figures gather outside your door This means only one thing; This means war

From up on the hill the warm light radiates from the gates of the castle On one side gold, and on the other gravel It is said that fortune only favours the brave but this birthright and privilege carried to the grave are bound by spineless ancestral roots tied so tight, never to unravel This sense of entitlement ingrained from birth all feelings pushed aside for individual self-worth Never need for anything but unable to unearth Why you'd owe someone a living So with a blind eye turned to the beggar's plight You show no weakness and just keep walking on by Taught that charity begins at home where everything is taken and nothing is ever given But does our conscience really make cowards of us all? A guilty conscience should need no accuser at all CH So were the years of despair worth all that they cost in fees? The blood and the sweat that we spent seems so empty But as we bounced along those dirt roads you smiled and you turned to me You said "This job may be dirty lad, but at least the money's clean" We stack these shelves with expensive wares Our cupboards at home are almost bare But they'll ensure we are taxed our fair share these manipulators of the system With their business interests that lie abroad guarded by a machine gun or a sword and threats of rape remain protected and ignored In a sweat-shop prison We watch another round of redundancies and closures on the news but a healthy profit comes from a privatised system abused CH So were the years of despair worth all that they cost in fees? The blood and the sweat that we spent seems so empty But as we bounced along those dirt roads you smiled and you turned to me You said "This job may be dirty lad, but at least the money's clean" Now all the kings and queens in their counting houses Will toast a drink to their health As they'll always find a way to accumulate and bury their wealth but as they die all alone in a room full of shadows and fear Their bodies turn to dust.....but their money remains here....... it remains here.....

With a safe commercial venture There's a line to be toed Keep it dead centre Straight down the middle of the road Each word carefully chosen Contrived and reviewed Just going through the motions As rhetoric is spewed You say it's just about the music and having fun with your mates 'cos you're far too old to protest and for getting into scrapes Your lyrics are so poignant Your anger intense But I cannot help but notice You're still sitting on the fence Chorus To the rules you're adhering and the crowd are cheering Singing along now To your sloganeering If this is a movement Then why does nothing move? The same old contradictions Nothing ever improves Preaching to the converted Still ploughing this rut If the past feeds the future Then the present is fucked Chorus To the rules, you're adhering And still the crowd are cheering Singing along now To your sloganeering

These promises made from an office far away of glory and medals, of seizing the day 'Make A Difference', 'Be The Best' all the adverts say Sign up today So the strongest fear just enough to stay in line and obey the shouted orders from the leaders behind Heads down, blinkered, kept blind Herded like cattle into someone else's battle As we engineered the future We didn't learn anything from the past These bombs obliterate entire countries and can fly there twice as fast Indiscriminate targeting of casualties Vicious inflictions unsurpassed Repeat statistics on the news on the TV and the flags still flying at half mast Skin red and blistered from the blazing sun Ears still ringing from the bursting guns The burning paint and metal choking your lungs Old men's problems inflicting the young But there's no time to remember the thousands who fell Each with a family, a life, a story to tell Justified in the hatred you felt But every bullet you fired feels like a bullet that you aimed at yourself So as we engineered the future We didn't learn anything from the past These bombs obliterate entire countries and can fly there twice as fast Indiscriminate targeting of casualties Vicious inflictions unsurpassed Repeat statistics on the news on the TV and the flags still flying at half mast Now the politicians feign their grief In hypocrisy they lay their wreaths Among the decorated veterans of war But behind the scenes, their powers convene The rolling of the combat machine Targets aligned, contracts signed and a thousand more young men are packed off on another bloody desert tour