1. |
Song for Shaker Aamer
06:48
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Song for Shaker Aamer (Andy Worthington)
This is a song for Shaker Aamer
The last British man in Guantánamo
Stuck in a cell alone
Though the US says it wants to let him go
And half the men still held
Are in the same sad situation
Prisoners of political games
That ought to shame the nation
Chorus
Shaker Shaker
They chain your body but they cannot chain your mind
You tell truth to power
Even though you are behind the wire
Shaker Aamer is no terrorist
In fact he cares deeply for his fellow man
That's why he took his family
To help poor Muslims in Afghanistan
But he was sold to the US for money
And he's still held with no end in sight
He came to be seen as a leader
Because he stands up for the prisoners' rights
Chorus (repeat)
Shaker Aamer lived in London
Where he was given indefinite leave to remain
The government says it wants him back
But they're not trying hard enough that much is plain
And Shaker's family
They wait so patiently for him to come home
He hasn't seen his youngest son
Who was born the day he got to Guantánamo
Chorus (repeat)
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2. |
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Sweet Love and Ever After (Andy Worthington)
Many many years ago I first met you
On a crazy weekend in Brixton
Crazy weekends were the norm, running from ourselves
Or trying to find ourselves but through oblivion
Now talk is cheap as I have learned and even lovers lie
But you told me I could trust you and your promise never died
Many many years ago how could I know
That you would be my sweet love and ever after
Broken hearts and broken minds line the road of life
And I know I could have joined the debris
Drinking hard and smoking too like an immortal dream
One from which only your love could save me
For better or for worse are the words of the marriage vow
We never knew how bad things could be - or how good until now
Broken hearts and broken minds are not my fate
Because you are my sweet love and ever after
When the clock struck 35 we thought that it was time
To try to turn our love into creation
And seven months was all it took till he was in our life
That baby boy who arrived without hesitation
Those who are born too soon are like chicks falling from the nest
You hold them in your hand and your love hides your distress
When the clock struck 35 how could we know
That he would be our sweet love and ever after
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3. |
Tory Bullshit Blues
04:18
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Tory Bullshit Blues (Andy Worthington)
Well I woke up this morning
Like so many days before
Wondering how I got so old
Wondering how to even the score
'Cause these men who claim to lead us
They're worse than ever before
And if there was a revolutionary spirit
They'd be up against the wall
Well I dreamt I was at the crossroads
Back in 1979
Margaret Thatcher took us one way
But that way wasn't mine
'Cause I believe in solidarity
And the common good
I can't stand this I'm-alright-Jack nonsense
I'm holding out for Robin Hood
Well I went to see the doctor
I said can you help me please
These wretched politicians
They're giving me disease
But I don't want to leave the country
'Cause that would be a defeat
And I would rather die standing
Than live on my knees
The doctor checked me out
He said you're of sound body and mind
In my considered opinion
You're absolutely fine
So you must be on to something
With your interpretation of the news
I think you got a bad case
Of the Tory Bullshit Blues
Well I left my inner city home
To see what was going on
But all I found was hordes of angry people
Getting it wrong
They blame the immigrants and the unemployed
And the disabled and the poor
For the crash caused by the bankers
Who haven't paid for it at all
And as the madness spreads
Fanned by the media
People turn to false prophets
To make sense of what they fear
But these bigots are no answer
And their leader is a dangerous fool
It's just another version
Of the Tory Bullshit Blues
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4. |
Rebel Soldier
03:24
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Rebel Soldier (traditional)
One morning one morning one morning in May
I heard a poor soldier lamenting and say
I heard a poor soldier lamenting and mourn
I am a rebel soldier and far from my home
It's grapeshot and musket and the cannons lumber loud
There's many a mangled body, a blanket for their shroud
There's many a mangled body left on the field alone
I am a rebel soldier and far from my home
I'll build me a castle on some green mountain high
Where the wild geese can see me as they do pass by
Where the wild geese can see me and hear my sad mourn
I am a rebel soldier and far from my home
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5. |
Sea Shanty for Helena
04:03
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Sea Shanty for Helena (Richard Clare)
Life isn't lonely when I've got you along
Love is the ocean that we're sailing upon
The swell is exciting but provisions are low
I don't want to land but we're gonna sink if you don't row
We're gonna sink if you don't row
And in the night that lasts forever
We saw our spirits fly
Winter storms may last forever
But our love will never die
I can feel your pain
Now we are lost in sorrow
Tears on your face
Will you be gone tomorrow
Make love under cover and I'll drown in your arms
Even the mermaids are now losing their charms
The sharks may be hungry but they don't frighten me
You are the girl with whom I wish to be lost at sea
With whom I wish to be lost at sea
And in the night that lasts forever
We saw our spirits fly
Winter storms may last forever
But our love will never die
The cover image shows 'The Kiss (Lovers)' (detail) by Gustav Klimt (1907-08).
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6. |
City of Dreams
04:58
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City of Dreams (Andy Worthington)
When I first came to the city
From the land where time stood still
It was every night a funfair
From my bedsit window sill
But then the money ran out
And I started to revolve
Around cheating time and drinking wine
That lost me my resolve
Chorus
City of dreams
You give me nightmares
Plate glass steel and bloodshot chrome
I heard many say that you're the answer
But only my dreams are home
Only my dreams are home
I wrote this song as a young man
When my despair was full
Thatcher won a third term
And seemed unstoppable
Finally she crashed and burned
But the damage had been done
She made this world of unfettered greed
That must now be overcome
Chorus (repeat)
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7. |
Fighting Injustice
06:28
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Fighting Injustice (Andy Worthington)
Look at this world in decline
Despite all the victories that were fought for
Centuries spent struggling for the vote
And for our right to healthcare and education
But now we're running out of time
Our politicians have turned into pimps and whores
Our NHS is being choked
And there are no jobs for the young in this broken down nation
Chorus
If you ain't fighting injustice
You're living on the dark side oh yeah
If you ain't fighting injustice
You're living on the dark side oh yeah
Our economies have been raped
By those who claim that they are the masters
We've had 30 years of financial pillage and plunder
Since the regulators stepped out of the picture
Then came the global crash of '08
But no one expected what would come after
Instead of the thieves going under
We printed lots of new money to make them all richer
Chorus (repeat)
Although shelter is a human right
Homelessness is increasing
Food bank use is on the rise
And workers can't afford to live in the capital
With no rent controls in sight
And one-bedroom flats fetching half a million
This is a super-rich paradise
But one where the rest of us are disposable
Chorus (repeat)
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8. |
81 Million Dollars
08:16
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81 Million Dollars (Andy Worthington)
Everybody knows that torture doesn't work
Unless what you're after is brutality and lies
And that's what America wanted
After 9/11
And speaking for the Bush administration
Dick Cheney promised to take us to the dark side
A place of secret prisons
And our expulsion from heaven
Chorus
Did you know you can get 81 million dollars for being torturer?
Yeah you can get paid 81 million dollars for being a torturer
James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen
Worked for the military
Teaching US soldiers
To resist torture by an enemy
They had no experience of interrogation
But they had a thirst for government money
So they reverse-engineered their program
For the so-called "high-value detainees"
Chorus
And they got 81 million dollars for being torturers
Yeah they were paid 81 million dollars for being torturers
And let's not forget the torture lawyers
Like John Yoo, a law professor at Berkeley
Who said that torture wasn't torture
So the CIA could use it
And Yoo's boss who signed the torture memos
A man named Jay S. Bybee
Whose reward for this sick sleight of hand
Was a prestigious judgeship
Chorus
You can keep your job as a law professor by being a torturer
You can be made a federal appeals court judge for being a torturer
But how do we make them pay?
To take some of our shame and guilt away
How do we make them pay?
To give some hint of justice to those whose lives were taken away
George W. Bush war criminal
Richard B. Cheney war criminal
Donald Rumsfeld war criminal
Condoleezza Rice war criminal
Alberto Gonzales war criminal
David Addington war criminal
William J. Haynes III war criminal
John Yoo war criminal
Jay S. Bybee war criminal
George Tenet war criminal
James Mitchell war criminal
Bruce Jessen war criminal
John Rizzo war criminal
Steven Bradbury war criminal
Jack Straw war criminal
Tony Blair war criminal
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The Four Fathers London, UK
Militant, melodic rock & roots reggae band, based in SE London, mostly playing original protest music. Journalist and activist Andy Worthington (lead vocals, electro-acoustic guitar), Richard Clare (electric guitar, vocals), Bren Horstead (drums, percussion), Andrew Fifield (flute, harmonica), Paul Rooke (bass). ... more
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