This brave new world is full of cowards and liars

And Holocaust deniers

Second guessers, second amendments

But who’ll defend the new defendants?

They say this brave new world is not for the faint of heart

For the lovers or the starving artists

It’s for the worms and the snakes and the rats and varmints

And boys who can’t keep their rage in their undergarments

Now I just have to ask

If you’re an anti-anti-fascist

Then oh… you do the math

We’re gonna dance in the ashes

‘Til compassion is the fashion

And live with open hearts

Gonna weaponize affection

Gonna march in a new direction

We’re gonna dance in the ashes

‘Til compassion is the fashion

And live with open hearts

We’re gonna starve that infection

Gonna march in a new direction

‘Til this brave new world is somewhere on the map

And no one has to ask

What’s the answer that’s the question

A ballot or a bullet or an insurrection?

You gotta plant that flag and make some choices

Raise some hell and raise your voices

Your voice is a bell and a bomb

Hey kid, you got soul

A diamond in the rough with an ace in the hole

A mean streak, you’re bad to the bone

But you’re only gonna to lose if you go it alone

(It’s lonely) Don’t try to con me

(It’s lonely) Yeah, but if only, if only

You could face facts, wake that rage

Don’t turn the other cheek you gotta turn that page

The word, the deed, the riot and the rope

This town is gonna burn with a new kinda hope

(If only) your dreams could release you

(But only) your deeds can redeem you… that much is true

Once for the money two cops kicked down the door

Three years in Kingston forgot your rebel soul

But one day you’ll wake up too tired to waste any more

Three years to make up

Four walls can’t hold you…

You got soul

There’s a diamond in that lump of coal

Seize the day

Oh no no no don’t throw it away

The truth remains

The only thing you got to lose is your chains

There’s a battle to come

When there’s a world to be won

On a bad day all I see are wars and escalation

On a bad day all I feel is sadness and frustration

And when the end of history becomes a pop sensation

It’s a bad day

On a bad day folks have fewer rights than corporations

On a bad day workers have to fight for liberation

For decent wages, toilet breaks and even paid vacations

On a bad day

Now I don’t know if I believe

They tell me that the arc of history

Is bending in the right degree

They tell us, “you just wait and see.”

‘Cause every other day Gilead invokes a new injunction

Even Mothers’ day on our sisters and our friends and on our lovers

So how ‘bout women taking back the means of reproduction?

What do you say?

On a bad day I wake to find that “woke” is an invective

On a bad day – to dinosaurs contesting old elections

When picket fences, power and profits all had white complexions

Ah “the good old days!”

On a bad day we go low and they go even lower

On a bad day justice is a grower not a shower

And lady liberty’s a great ol’ gal but you don’t know her

On a bad day

It’s a sad day when conspiracy becomes a kind of street cred

It’s a sad day, the anthem of the fearful and the brain-dead

Those whistles only dogs can hear, and certain fascist dickheads

On a bad day

Two steps forward and one step back

Is one step closer in fact

So cheer up, Charli you don’t have to cry no more

It’s been hard but it’s hardly the rumours of a third world war

Every storm we’ve weathered and every battle that we ever won

Ah, cheer up, Charli – ain’t nothing we can’t overcome

You’re the life of the party you’re the reigning queen of my kingdom

Just like Laurel and Hardy we’re laughin’ when those times get tough

I’m the moon in the evening and you shine brighter than the morning sun

So cheer up, Charli you know I’ll be here when the day is done

When I get down, I get up

A sunflower facing the sun

I feel good lately well I feel better than I ever done

Yeah, so cheer up, Charli and you and I shall overcome

Oh cheer up, Charli you know I hate to see you so low

Wipe those tears and I promise I’ll sing you every song I know

Little bird at your window pretty angels on your radio

So cheer up, Charli and tune in to that Charli show

Ah cheer up, Charli there’s angels on your radio

Yeah, there’s angels on your radio

Don’t you know?

Hey hey hey hey! I saw the factories burning

Wheels of reaction turning

In Armageddon Street last night

And I know it’s been a long time coming

A distant presence humming

Up the alley between fear and doom

But when I’m walking down Armageddon Street

I’ve got a smile and a bomb and a handshake

For everyone I meet

Oh, this is the seventh sign

It’s a blackout, bright flash, think fast, move your ass

Get out on the midnight line

We’ve got the same address – Armageddon Street

From Odessa harbour, Union City, Washington D.C.

Yeah yeah, what are you doing tonight?

I need someone to make me feel alright now

In Armageddon Street tonight

I need some one to make me feel alright

I need to make you…

Feel alright!

What does the poor boy see in a world of malice and greed?

What does the poor boy say – a steady stream of riot and rage

What does the poor boy read – fairy tales designed to deceive

What will the poor boy do when he’s finally confronted the truth?

His hopes and dreams of better days

Are falling out of the sky

A one-way ticket out of here is calling

How can a poor girl breathe working sixty-odd hours a week?

Where can a poor girl stay in a town of towers and cages?

How can a poor girl dream when the world wants her down on her knees?

And what does the poor girl feel – just a cold reminder of times when…

She’s been down

Wrong way ‘round

She can’t find that sound

She’s been down

Wrong way ‘round

Lost and found

Gagged and bound

She can’t find that sound

What can the poor boy do?

What can the poor girl do?

If you knew now what you knew then

Would you still be slinging mud?

Cause here you are in your old pigpen

Right back where you started from

Ah, and what goes around comes around

And it’s all over town

Cause what goes around comes around

Slings and arrows, taunts and threats

All end up where they began

Right back here on your own doorstep

The theory of a boomerang

Ah, is what goes around comes around

And guess who’s going down?

Cause what goes around comes around

Don’t forget when the tears start falling

They’ll belong to you

You wanna bet that karma’s aim is true

Don’t forget when regret comes calling

Ah, it calls for you

All those dominoes start falling too

‘Cause everything that goes around comes around

And this is coming around

What goes around comes around

And guess who’s going down?

What goes around comes around

You can’t be yourself until you free yourself

From all the white noise drowning out your sweet voice

You don’t know if your aim is true

With all this shit you’re going through

You’ve had it with the straight lines

Enough to last a lifetime

When just living is a petty crime

But when your life gets out of hand… Landslide

I’ll dig you free with my two hands… Landslide

Children of the class war

They’re shutting down the company store

And they ain’t gonna turn the lights on

‘Til someone turns the rights on

And you know when that power cuts

You see those power-mongers lining up

They read the writing on the broadsheets

The real power’s in the city streets

Ah, tell everyone you meet

That when your life gets out of hand… Landslide

I’ll dig you free with my two hands… Landslide

Lights out!

You say your bill of rights is written in stone

But you turn your back and then it’s gone

In the blink of an eye – a wink and a lie

Distract and deny

That’s what they’re gonna do when the boot comes down!

Thugs and deceivers

Like all true believers

Succumb to the fever

The drug of deceit

And all those pied pipers paid to sleep at the wheel

Those kings and queens of compromise

They’re bidin’ their time and they’re towin’ the line

‘Til democracy dies

That’s how it’s gonna be when the boot comes down!

Do you trust them now?

Jail time, bail fines, bad signs, the state is a stage

So don’t threaten us with a good time

‘Cause the blacker the list, the sweeter the kiss

When it comes down to this

Ah, where you gonna be when the boot comes down?

When thugs and deceivers

Like all true believers

Succumb to the fever

We take to the street

Arise and defy

Awake and deny

Confront and decry

That’s what you gotta do when the boot comes down!

Selling high, buying low

They’re the only true religions that you know

Silver and gold

But it’s cruel and it’s cold

In these cardboard city streets where you don’t go

Desperation row

You’re the Pope of pampered parody but what is that kingdom worth?

Reflected vice and vanity, mirroring the god you serve

(Glass towers)

Buying low gets you by

And you build your shiny tantrums in the sky

Higher and higher

You’re the Prince of private property

A thousand tenants at your feet

But the blunt blade of a guillotine’s shadow hangs over the street

(Glass towers)

We fight this battle all over the globe

The lights are on but nobody’s home

Ah, welcome to the Plunderdome!

So take another look at your life

Take another look at your life

You’re dancing on the edge of a knife

Take another look at your life

Aren’t you sick of all this two-bit hype?

Take another look at your life

This is just the tip of the ice

So take another look at your life

Why don’t you add it up from one to ten

Do you get tired of everything you see

And worry about the implications?

When there’s a riot in everything you read

The clash of the word and the deed

And what’s that sound – a million marching feet

All facing in the wrong direction?

A universe stuck in reverse

Do you get down from everything you hear?

The raving of the true believers

Meet that sound with fingers in your ears

The sound of the wrench in the gears

When you’re surrounded by the things you fear

You’re faced with one of two directions

It’s out or in, it’s sink or swim

And I say don’t be cruel

Cruel’s the cold philosophy of thugs and fools

Don’t wield the master’s tools

And I say right makes might and not the other way around

It’s fight or flight, it’s run or hold your ground

And do you question everything you feel?

Sedated by an institution

That just perjures what it can’t conceal

Don’t wait for the big reveal

The court’s in session but the verdict’s sealed

The con in the constitution

The rights of man – a sleight of hand

And I say don’t be cruel

‘Cause you know that’s no way to treat a heart that’s true

In the raging quiet

David and Goliath

The two of us took on the world to set it right

And our days went by, shaken and gun-shy

You said it’s not a flame until you’ve lit it

Rainy day parades and purple hearts

To fight the war’s the only way to win it

Rainy day parades and purple hearts

I put pen to page

I put rhyme to rage

I left every ounce of poison in me on the stage

You said they’re only words, they can’t change the world

But it’s not a bell until you ring it

Rainy day parades and purple hearts

And it’s not a song unless you sing it

Rainy day parades and purple hearts

Well the world may treat you like a dog and beat you

And words can be sharper than a knife

Will you find what you’re after?

In the final chapter of a book that’s the story of your life

You showed up at my door

Cried “what is all this for?”

And I just stood there, silent, staring at the kitchen floor

Cause it’s a mystery, but it seems to me

It’s like a race you can’t win unless you finish

Rainy day parades and purple hearts

Though the light is dim it’s not diminished

Rainy day parades and purple hearts