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Song Info
Genre
Charts
#2,890 today
Peak #72
#221 in subgenre
Peak #7
Author
Andrew Kinnaird
Rights
Andrew Kinnaird
Uploaded
September 09, 2008
Track Files
MP3
MP3 5.2 MB • 128 kbps • 5:37
Story behind the song
I originally wrote the words as a member of the Open University poets' society and it was published in their annual anthology in '83. Later on I composed a melody based on the idea behind the words to be played on the violin. The first part is on all 4 strings the second on 3 the third on 2 and the last only on the G string
Lyrics
Our way of life is sacrosanct - always remaining.
The Royal heads in series ranked, always maintaining
The Royal birth, the Royal hearse -
But paid for from the public purse.
What though the people’s homes are crumbling
Nor hope of new if old goes tumbling?
Boom and clang and with tootle and wheeple,
Risking riot and civil strife,
Scrape this tune on the nerves of the people:
“We must preserve our way of life!”
Screw the homeless, keep the rich,
Turn the pegs and raise the pitch
Till over-taut vibrating string
Goes snap! And ping -
The jagged ends come flying back
And give the fiddler’s face a smack.
Our way of life is sacrosanct - always remaining.
Free enterprise’s profits, banked, always maintaining
The right to property and wealth
While undermining public health.
Profit’s safe though hope’s destroyed
Among the poor and unemployed
Boom and clang and with tootle and wheeple,
Risking riot and civil strife,
Scrape this tune on the nerves of the people:
“We must preserve our way of life!”
Screw the poor, maintain the rich,
Turn the pegs and raise the pitch
Another taut vibrating string
Goes snap! And ping -
The jagged ends come flying back
And give the fiddler’s face a smack.
Our way of life is sacrosanct - always remaining.
Westminster rules - unasked, unthanked - always maintaining
The central power. No power’s devolved
And basic rights are unresolved
Our schools are understaffed and cold
Equipment scarce or worn and old.
Boom and clang and with tootle and wheeple,
Risking riot and civil strife,
Scrape this tune on the nerves of the people:
“We must preserve our way of life!”
Screw the children, keep the rich,
Turn the pegs and raise the pitch
Till yet another throbbing string
Goes snap! And ping -
The jagged ends come flying back
And give the fiddler’s face a smack.
Our way of life is sacrosanct - always remaining.
By submarines and missiles flanked, always maintaining
A stock of fear and evil - meant
Not for use, but to prevent
Invasion. So they say and yet
The weapons are the greater threat.
Still boom, clang and with tootle and wheeple,
Risking riot and civil strife,
Scrape this tune on the nerves of the people:
“We must preserve our way of life!”
Screw the people, save the rich,
Turn the pegs and raise the pitch
Till one remaining throbbing string
Goes snap! And ping -
The jagged ends come flying back
And cause the whole facade to crack.
