No Pop, No Style, Strictly Roots

If you hate me, why don't you go?
And if you love me, why don't you let me know?
But you just won't give me an inch, so
You just sulk

Why do i want to hide whenever you show up?
You know your moods just make me want to throw up
Why don't you just bloody well grow up?
You just sulk

All of the time,
Why don't you pick me up or throw me a line?
All over the place,
Why don't you tell me what you think?
Come on and tell me to my face

If you love me, why don't you show it?
If you hate me, why don't you let me know it?
Why don't you just pick up something and throw it?
You just sulk

If you want to bend my arm,
Well you could do it with a little more charm,
But you just couldn't bear to do me any harm
So you just sulk

And you tell me that you want to quit
And then you treat me like a piece of shit
And when i ask you, what's that got to do with it?
You just sulk

Ad lib, and fade

Words: billy bragg - music: billy bragg & cara tivey

There are soldiers marching on the common today
They were there again this evening
They paced up and down like sea birds on the ground
Before the storm clouds gathering

I must buy whatever tinned food is left on the shelves
They are testing the air raid sirens
They've filled up the blood banks and emptied the beds
At the hospital and he asylum

I saw a man build a shelter in his garden today
And we stood there idly chatting
He said: "no, no i don't think war will come"
Yet still he carried on digging

Everything in my life that i love
Could be swept away without warning
Yet the birds still sing and the church bells ring
And the sun came up this morning

Life goes on as it did before
As the country drifts slowly to war

Chorus:
I will cross this body of water
If you promise you won't try this at home

You're where you want to be
Where am i, i'm up a tree
I had a hurt attack
Rolled away, now i'm bouncing back

Forgive me for feeling sick
I think i just got up too quick
Is this the consequence
Of an out of bed experience

Where i'm from the sun don't shine
We keeps the light on all the time
I walk upon the ground we dream about
You finding out about it now
But you are clever never to be found

Summer could take a hint
Seeing you in a floral print
Oh, to become a pearl
In the wordy world of the cornflake girl

with the money from her accident
She bought herself a mobile home
So at least she could get some enjoyment
Out of being alone
No one could say that she was left up on the shelf
It's you and me against the world kid she mumbled to herself

Chorus:
When the world falls apart some things stay in place
Levi stubbs' tears run down his face

She ran away from home with her mother's best coat
She was married before she was even entitled to vote
And her husband was one of those blokes
The sort that only laughs at his own jokes
The sort that war takes away
And when there wasn't a war he left her anyway

Norman whitfield and barratt strong
Are here to make everything right that's wrong
Holland and holland and lamont dozier too
Are here to make it all okay with you

One dark night he came home from the sea
And put a hole in her body where no hole should be
It hurt her more to see him walking out the door
And though they stitched her back together they left her heart in pieces on the
Floor

When the world falls apart some things stay in place
She takes off the four tops tape and puts it back in its case
When the world falls apart some things stay in place
Levi stubbs' tears...

Shirley,
It's quite exciting to be sleeping here in this new room
Shirley,
You're my reason to get out of bed before noon
Shirley,
You know when we sat out on the fire escape talking
Shirley,
What did you say about running before we were walking

Sometimes when we're as close as this
It's like we're in a dream
How can you lie there and think of england
When you don't even know who's in the team

Shirley,
Your sexual politics have left me all of a muddle
Shirley,
We are joined in the ideological cuddle

I'm celebrating my love for you
With a pint of beer and a new tattoo
And if you haven't noticed yet
I'm more impressionable when my cement is wet

Politics and pregnancy
Are debated as we empty our glasses
And how i love those evening classes

Shirley,
You really know how to make a young man angry
Shirley,
Can we get through the night without mentioning family

The people from your church agree
It's not much of a career
Trying the handles of parked cars
Whoops, there goes another year
Whoops, there goes another pint of beer

Here we are in our summer years
Living on icecream and chocolate kisses
Would the leaves fall from the trees
If i was your old man and you were my missus

Shirley,
Give my greetings to the new brunette

You and i are victims of a love
That lost a lot in the translation
When i think of all the time that i spent
Sitting on the edge of your bed in anticipation
Of you giving in and us living in sin

A hot day, the smell of hairspray
And the sound of a shower running softly
It's things like this that remind me of how i felt
The first time you came back for coffee
The way you took it amazed me

Walking in the park, kissing in the dark
And my head against your pillow
Late at night a lover sings
Adam and eve are finding out all about love
I say adam and eve are finding out all about love

There is no real substitute
For a ball struck squarely and firmly
And you're the kind of girl who wants to
Open up the bottle of pop
Too early in the journey
Our love went flat just like that

It doesn't matter the colour of the car
But what goes on beneath the bonnet
Is there a flag that flies above your heart
And is my name writ there upon it
Wedding cake and toothache
Equals love and pain

Walking in the park, kissing on the carpet
And your tights around your ankles
Late at night a lover thinks of these things
Adam and eve are finding out all about love
I say adam and eve are finding out all about love
Adam and eve are finding out all about
Adam and eve are finding out all about love
Teresa and steve are finding out all about love

It may have been camelot for jack and jacqueline
But on the che guevara highway filling up with gasoline
Fidel castro's brother spies a rich lady who's crying
Over luxury's disappointment
So he walks over and he's trying
To sympathise with her but he thinks that he should warn her
That the third world is just around the corner

In the soviet union a scientist is blinded
By the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded
That dr robert oppenheimer's optimism fell
At the first hurdle

In the cheese pavilion and the only noise i hear
Is the sound of someone stacking chairs
And mopping up spilt beer
And someone asking questions and basking in the light
Of the fifteen fame filled minutes of the fanzine writer

Mixing pop and politics he asks me what the use is
I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses
While looking down the corridor
Out to where the van is waiting
I'm looking for the great leap forwards

Jumble sales are organised and pamphlets have been posted
Even after closing time there's still parties to be hosted
You can be active with the activists
Or sleep in with the sleepers
While you're waiting for the great leap forwards

One leap forward, two leaps back
Will politics get me the sack?

Here comes the future and you can't run from it
If you've got a blacklist i want to be on it

It's a mighty long way down rock 'n roll
From top of the pops to drawing the dole

If no one seems to understand
Start your own revolution and cut out the middleman

In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room

So join the struggle while you may
The revolution is just a t-shirt away
Waiting for the great leap forwards