Brewing Up With Billy Bragg

I woke up this morning
To find that we have outlived the myth of trust
You woke up this morning
To the fact we've lost the things
We took for granted between us
And i grew up in awe of the girl next door
And the boy that never cried
And i was dreaming of those elizabethan girls
While you were eorking in the market
To earn ourselves
And when you found out what happened yesterday
While you were away in this land of cain
We were upstairs in the bedroom
Dancing disgusting
And flushing our babies down the drain
And the apple that don't want to get eaten
Will still fall off the tree
When you're in as deep as we are honey
It's so easy to get washed out to sea
For the facts of life are not man and wife
But man and woman sadly
And the apple that don't want to get eaten
Will still fall off the tree

Digging all day and digging all night
To keep my foxhole out of sight
Digging into dinner on a plate on my knees
The smell of damp webbing in the morning breeze
Fear in my stomach, fear in the sky
I eat my dinner with a weary eye
After all this it won't be the same
Messing around on salisbury plain


Pick up your feet, fall in, move out
We're going to a party way down south
Me and the corporal out on a spree
Damned from here to eternity


I hate this flat land, there's no cover
For sons and fathers and brothers and lovers
I can take the killing, i can take the slaughter
But i don't talk to sun reporters
I never thought that i would be
Fighting fascists in the southern sea
I saw one today and in his hand
Was a weapon that was made in birmingham


Pick up your feet, fall in, move out
We're going to a party way down south
Me and the corporal out on a spree
Damned from here to eternity


I wish kipling and the captain were here
To record our pursuits for posterity
Me and the corporal out on a spree
Damned from here to eternity

She said "do these seats fold down"
I said "if you pull that handle"
All the time she'd been waiting for
Something with a little more
And all her mates on the new estates
Were walking out in confetti and sunshine


Her mother read her mail
And her dad was a policeman
Which i must say worried me
But some things have just got to be
So we passed very fast like ships in the night
Or cars in a contraflow system


Some people say love is blind
But i think that's just a bit short-sighted
Some people just want it now
It doesn't matter where or how
Satisfaction takes a second place
So long as they can get excited

I'll never forget the first day i met her
That september morning was clear and fresh
The way she spoke and laughed at my jokes
And the way she rubbed herself
Against the edge of my desk
She became a magic mystery to me
And we'd sit together in double
History twice a week
And some days we'd walk the same way home
And it's surprising how quick
A little rain can clear the streets
We dreamed of her and compared our dreams
But that was all that i ever tasted
She lied to me with her body you see
I lied to myself 'bout the chances i'd wasted


The times we were close
Were far and few between
In the darkness at the dances in the school canteen
Did she close her eyes like i did
As we held each other tight
And la la la la la la la la means i love you


She danced with me and i still hold that memory
Soft and sweet
And i stare up at her window
As i walk down her street
But i never made the first team,
I just made the first team laugh
And she never came to the phone
She was always in the bath
I had to look in the dictionary
To find out the meaning of unrequited
While she was giving herself for free
At a party to which i was never invited


I never understood my failings then
And i hide my humble hopes now
Thinking back she made us want her
A girl not old enough to shave her legs

All winter long while i was locked in my room
Your face at the window and my hair on the floor
I was thinking of you
All winter long while i was locked in my room
Your face at the window and my hair on the floor
I was thinking of you
But the phone rang all night long
To tell me i was wrong
And i watched while the officer
Wrote all their ages down

Strange things happen
When you're not around
Our love is so strong
It moves objects in my house
Strange things happen
When you're not around
Those magical moments
Have found their way back home again

All winter long while i was locked in my room
Your face at the window and my hair on the floor
I was thinking of you
All winter long while i was locked in my room
Your face at the window
And that book of old spells
I was thinking of you
And all the spells we cast
Have lately come to pass
And the flowers in the garden have all fallen down

Strange things happen...