Lyric competition

September 17, 2010

1–2 minutes

“I hate the 80’s” was The Vaselines’ comeback MP3 giveaway after a twenty year career break. Encouraged by the euphoric reaction to the little video I did for it (which really is better than the record company’s one) it’s now the promo single for their new album “sex with an x”. This got me to thinking that in about 2040 someone might want to write a song about the Con Dem years. As Trotsky said “to lead is to foresee” so let’s save the musicians some work and see if we can come up with the lyrics now.

By way of incentive I’ll donate £25 to the strike fund, progressive campaign or section of the Fourth International of the winner’s choice. It needs to be a proper song lyric with a chorus and three or four verses. The winner will be chosen by a combination of popular acclaim and my inclination. The closing deadline is 9pm on September 30th.

13 responses to “Lyric competition”

Steve

September 18, 2010 at 8:43 am

“It needs to be a proper song lyric with a chorus and three or four verses”

Forget that reactionary bollocks its 2040 for christs sake! Here is my effort, a format busting revolutionary rap/dance/anthem, mainly instrumental (or I can’t be arsed to come up with anymore lyrics).

[Funky intro – think Groove Armada meets Rod Jane and Freddy]…

Back in 2010 men wearing frocks caused shocks
The economy was on the rocks, people said this is where the fun stops…
Muslims in the dock……. Yes this is where the fun stops
Papers full of plots….. Yes this is where the fun stops
More power to the fascist cops…..Yes this is where the fun stops
This is where the fun stops, this is where the fun stops, this is where the fun stops

They cut our services but they didn’t cut our hope
They cut our jobs but they didn’t cut our soul
They cut our rights but they didn’t cut our fight
They cut the audit commission but they were right to do that because they were shite.

And they said this is where the fun stops this is where the fun stops

Some said what they did was ideological, only made possible by atomised roboticals (common word in 2040) fed on a diet of tabloid editorials and put to sleep by drugs and happy cocktails.

But they said this is where the fun stops this is where the fun stops

LikeLike

Reply
shug

September 18, 2010 at 9:01 am

What key Steve,i tamper with the bass.

LikeLike

Reply
some of us don’t want to leave a name….

September 19, 2010 at 11:53 am

Not sure I go along with the chorus and verse structure either. The melody in my head was a vague mash-up of badly remembered Virginia Plain with Lost in the supermarket, and throw in half a dozen Talking Heads tracks. Not really your chorus/verse structure. Anyhow, here goes.

20/20 hindsight

Retrospectoscope’s a wonderful instrument
Wish I’d had one in 2010
Looking back with 20/20 hindsight
from 2040. Life was different then.
Slick fantasies slipped over the horizon.
Exhumed the living, as they dug ever deeper graves.
Dreams of soviets and electrification
peaked and dwindled, forced to free automated slaves.

Who could predict the riots for austerity?
Still clinging to our teleology
Past’s future is where we all want to be.

They greased the gears of the wartime economy
And turned another screw of the oil press
Fed the engine of destruction
And those with the least had to make do with much less.
When vaccination became a luxury
And just in time production was a little too late
Saw retreat of acronymic bureaucracy
WHO in their bunker left the poor to their own fate

Who could predict the riots for austerity?
Still clinging to our teleology
Past’s future is where we all want to be.

Post-petroleum stress disorder
Filled the decades from then to now.
Indebted to a certificate
of surplus know-that, deficit know-how.
And if life looks very hard
then know it could be so much bleaker.
As 2040’s coastal plains
Bail out 2020’s pleasure seeker.

Who could predict the riots for austerity?
Still clinging to our teleology
Past’s future is where we all want to be.

Before the ship went down
Before solid melts to air
Before dreams turned to dust

oooo, soviet power and electrification
oooo, soviet power and electrification
oooo, soviet power and electrification
oooo, soviet power and electrification

(No fade out, instead a sudden power-cut)

LikeLike

Reply
edgar

September 21, 2010 at 7:56 am

Jesus, better standard than I would have imagined!!

My contribution is nothing more than a cack handed attempt to join in the fun.

Its called Early days of the new millennium:

It started off with paranoia
Post modernity meets Krakatoa
The Age of Infantilism
Or the age of reason
Third wayism a brief flirtation

Shiny Shiny floors
Electronic doors
Polar bears drinking coca cola
This is the 21st century
Where the acolytes are free
And meanwhile on TV
Some soulless piece of situation comedy

Out of a clear blue sky
An epoch making cry
The paranoia gets replaced by fear
Neo liberal shock doctrine smear
Tsunami, Earthquake, floods
Some say God didn’t like us

Shiny Shiny floors
Electronic doors
Polar bears drinking coca cola
This is the 21st century
Where the acolytes are free
And meanwhile on TV
Some soulless piece of situation comedy

Two egos fighting over a corpse
Two more offer the last resort
Set up for the austerity drive
People pay with their own lives
But nothing lasts forever
Except talk about the weather

Shiny Shiny floors
Electronic doors
Polar bears drinking coca cola
This is the 21st century
Where the acolytes are free
And meanwhile on TV
Some soulless piece of situation comedy

LikeLike

Reply
Jerry Spring

September 22, 2010 at 9:22 am

I was trying to find the email address for the Convention of the Left – no joy so far – when I came across your ‘Lyric competition’.

With the failure of the utopian Third and Fourth Internationals and, as yet, no revolutionary leadership of the working class, what makes you think there will be anybody around in 40 years time.

Following the Labour years, the Con Dem period is just the latest expression of Global Imperialist Capitalism in Britain.

I wrote this song during those Labour years, but I think it is a suitable entry for your competition.

If I should win by any chance, please donate the prize to Palestine Solidarity – after all, it was Labour who engineered the founding of Israel and misery for Palestinians.

The Reason Why

The unseen waste from our machines leaves poison in the air.
Our leaders meet in conference, declaring that they care,
But the market free takes priority and so more deals are spun,
While trapped within the atmosphere, radiation from the sun.
Its time to ask the reason why, as the years go by, as the years go by.

The cliffs of ice are breaking down and glaciers melt to sea.
Our leaders meet in conference, pretending that they see,
But the dealers who still rule our lives still dream of making more,
While oceans heave around the earth and rise above the shore.
Too late to ask the reason why, as the years go by, as the years go by.

The forests wither where they stand, the rivers run to sand.
No one to meet in conference, with death in every land.
No one to know the reason why humanity sadly failed.
The blood red sun weeps through the day, the moon’s grey light stays veiled.
No one to know the reason why, as the years go by, as the years go by.

The forests can grow green and tall and rivers meet the sea,
When people reach across the world in solidarity,
Fighting for the only world we have, working to make it right.
The brighter sun will make the day, the moon will light the night.
We all will know the reason why, As the years go by, as the years go by.

Jerry Spring – Communist Socialist

LikeLike

Reply
Morris William

September 23, 2010 at 2:35 pm

With the failure of the utopian Third and Fourth Internationals and, as yet, no revolutionary leadership of the working class, what makes you think there will be anybody around in 40 years time.

Following the Labour years, the Con Dem period is just the latest expression of Global Imperialist Capitalism in Britain.

I wrote this song six years ago, but I think it is a suitable entry for your competition.

If I should win by any chance, please donate the prize to Palestine Solidarity – after all, it was Labour who engineered the founding of Israel and misery for Palestinians.

The Reason Why

The unseen waste from our machines leaves poison in the air.
Our leaders meet in conference, declaring that they care,
But the market free takes priority and so more deals are spun,
While trapped within the atmosphere, radiation from the sun.
Its time to ask the reason why, as the years go by, as the years go by.

The cliffs of ice are breaking down and glaciers melt to sea.
Our leaders meet in conference, pretending that they see,
But the dealers who still rule our lives still dream of making more,
While oceans heave around the earth and rise above the shore.
Too late to ask the reason why, as the years go by, as the years go by.

The forests wither where they stand, the rivers run to sand.
No one to meet in conference, with death in every land.
No one to know the reason why humanity sadly failed.
The blood red sun weeps through the day, the moon’s grey light stays veiled.
No one to know the reason why, as the years go by, as the years go by.

The forests can grow green and tall and rivers meet the sea,
When people reach across the world in solidarity,
Fighting for the only world we have, working to make it right.
The brighter sun will make the day, the moon will light the night.
We all will know the reason why, As the years go by, as the years go by.

Jerry Spring

Email – jerryspring@uwclub.net

LikeLike

Reply
Allin

September 23, 2010 at 3:13 pm

Great song Jerry but posting it twice doesn’t make it better!

LikeLike

Reply
Jason

September 23, 2010 at 5:17 pm

It’s called a refrain isn’t it? or should he have refrained from posting twice?

it is quite a good lyric tho’

LikeLike

Reply
Morris William

September 24, 2010 at 11:01 am

Ok. Ok.

Sorry.

I wasn’t sure my posting had been received first time round.

Jerry

LikeLike

Reply
prianikoff

September 25, 2010 at 7:41 am

McGonagall WIlliam:-

Home

LikeLike

Reply
David Ellis

September 25, 2010 at 9:14 am

Changing the subject slightly did anyone catch Aoife Mannix poem on Saturday Live this morning? Very good. Try Radio 4 listen again, it kicks off the programme.

LikeLike

Reply
Steve

September 25, 2010 at 10:36 am

Yeah great poem that David. Shug not sure of the key but plenty of upbeat major chords I imagine – I am open to suggestions. You are welcome to play base.

Anyway, if Jerry can post his song twice so can I (with a few added lyrics to boot!)

Back in 2010 men wearing frocks caused shock
The economy was on the rocks, people said this is where the fun stops…
Muslims in the dock……. ……….Yes this is where the fun stops
Papers full of plots….. …………..Yes this is where the fun stops
More power to the fascist cops…..Yes this is where the fun stops
This is where the fun stops, this is where the fun stops, this is where the fun stops

They cut our services but they didn’t cut our hope
They cut our jobs but they didn’t cut our soul
They cut our rights but they didn’t cut our fight
They cut the audit commission but they were right to do that because they were shite.

And they said this is where the fun stops this is where the fun stops

Efficiency is for robots…………..and this is where the fun stops
Work til you drop………………. and this is where the fun stops
Bankers in the stocks……………Yes this is where the fun stops
The return of protest pop………..Yes this is where the fun stops
This is where the fun stops, this is where the fun stops, this is where the fun stops

Some said what they did was ideological
Only made possible by atomised roboticals
Fed on a diet of tabloid editorials
And put to sleep by drugs and happy cocktails.

But they said this is where the fun stops this is where the fun stops

LikeLike

Reply
Lyric contest result « Mac Uaid

October 2, 2010 at 11:00 am

[…] contest result Posted on October 2, 2010 by Liam Thanks to the entrants in our little contest to write a song predicting what a Cameronian dystopia might look like. As […]

LikeLike

Reply