The UK government has already spent £100 million (and counting) on a cultural festival to celebrate the UK’s place in the world. Already dubbed, “The Festival of Brexit” it’s fair to say expectations are low. Mind you, wait till all my fellow artists see the funding callouts.......
lyrics
Don’t ask believers to ever explain it
Or give concrete examples of benefits
Or fathom out how we’ll get over it:
Just run along, come along,
Right or wrong, bung a bong.
Swap metres for furlongs.
Bang a gong, sing a song,
There’ll be no Skylon to admire
And your sheets of nylon just might catch fire
At the Festival Of Brexit.
The queues will be endless, to bind us asunder.
The tent leaks like a promise, the food supplier’s gone under.
Workers are casual now their rights have been plundered.
So come along, hum along,
With a headlong swan song,
A years long ding dong.
What could possibly go wrong
At the Festival of Brexit?
Career opportunities will be fewer & fewer,
There’s a smell of decay like a medieval sewer,
The face on a fiver’s Julia Hartley Brewer
At the Festival of Brexit.
The catering tent may lack some edge
With shortages of imported fruit & veg
So suck on a limp lettuce celebration
Of a facebook-fed dis-united Kingdom
There’ll be loads to celebrate, you’ll soon see,
Cos Ringo and Michael Caine both agree
That it’s so much better to be poorer and free:
At the Festival of Brexit
Free of red tape, like Health & Safety.
Free to make trade deals we had already
Free from all those skilled doctors & nurses
& carers & plumbers & cancer researchers.
Free to be racist, Free to tell lies,
Free to feed hedge funds, free to wear long ties.
So tag along, string along,
Moan along, sing along,
Leave along just as long
As it’s a 3 word song:
But Don’t explain
Cos that’s such a pain.
Dispense with facts
And don’t mention tax.
Believe The Express, flog the NHS
So come along, headstrong,
Wave a flag the daylong,
The money’s fled to Hong Kong.
You’ve been lied to all along
Monkey chants are our new song
At the Festival of Brexit.
Democracy’s welcome
Extends to lies and hate
So don’t call him Boris
‘Cos he’s not your mate.
credits
from State of That,
released January 18, 2020
Music & words Jimmy Andrex
Poet Douglas Kearney and composer/producer/drummer Val Jeanty link up for a a compelling LP that feels like the written word come to life. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 30, 2021