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lyrics

he was listening to the radio
joe was over in the corner
he wasn’t making any fuss at all
about the broadcast that he heard

if things had happened a little differently
or someone had noticed and been concerned
and asked, “why the tears old man”
instead he saw a politician at the bar and turned

he watched him spewing sound-bites
and cleaver racist slurs
careful enough & never quite vulgar or brusque
like a surgeon cutting into puss

joe spoke up to remind him
of beer hall fascists of the past
of how tyrants twist duty and obligation
and joe said, “now you explain to us”

why should we sacrifice our children
on the alter of your negligent desire
and misanthropic husbandry
of brutish self-regard?

“once more, again, lest we should fail our country”
you cry and rally ghouls and usurers
to the charnel pits of your profit to strip
the limbless and the scarred

of dignity and meaning
in remembrance flowers and silent vigils
it seems a poor way to forget the bloody business
commending butchery ordered by you weaker men

so don’t look me in the eye and say it’s better now
that we’re safer with your bullets and your bombs
if you believed empires fell and crumbled
well what’s risen from their corpse is worse than hell

the careering politician laughed at joe’s concerns
and threw two fifty pound notes onto the bar
& the liar hooked the greedy and gullible blind fools
for the price of a couple of pints

yet joe saw around the edges of their shadows
to where teenage faces heard him question and defy
and he saw tears of a brighter future there
in those young men and women’s eyes

as they said
we will never give up the fight joe
we will never forget our right
to stand together and oppose those fascists joe
and recognise that their
wrongs divide
joe today we will unite

credits

from tocsins & the remedy, released September 15, 2016
Written & © Tim O’Connor 2016

Performed by Tim O’Connor

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Tim O'Connor Hull, UK

Tim O'Connor is an English Folk/Rock songwriter based in Yorkshire, UK, Performing & recording since the late Seventies, Tim has released a large catalogue of albums, 39 to date, available on his record label, Uilleand Music.

Band Projects:

cowfisH, from 1992 onwards.

The Ant Farm Collective, from 2014-2017.

Tim O’Connor & the Poachers 2018- ... more

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