Life's A Riot With Spy Vs Spy

Billy Bragg Life's A Riot With Spy Vs Spy Lyrics
1.The Milkman Of Human Kindness

If you're lonely, i will call -
If you're poorly, i will send poetry

I love you
I am the milkman of human kindness
I will leave an extra pint

If you're sleeping, i will wait
If your bed is wet, i will dry your tears

I love you
I am the milkman of human kindness
I will leave an extra pint

Hold my hand for me i'm waking up
Hold my hand for me i'm waking up
Hold my hand for me i'm making up
Won't you hold my hand - i'm making up

If you are falling, i'll put out my hands
If you feel bitter, i will understand

I love you
I am the milkman of human kindness
I will leave an extra pint


2.To Have And To Have Not

Up in the morning and out to school
Mother says there'll be no work next year
Qualifications once the golden rule
Are now just pieces of paper

Just because you're better than me
Doesn't mean i'm lazy
Just because you're going forwards
Doesn't mean i'm going backwards

If you look the part you'll get the job
In last year's trousers and your old school shoes
The truth is son, it's a buyer's market
They can afford to pick and choose

Just because you're better than me
Doesn't mean i'm lazy
Just because i dress like this
Doesn't mean i'm a communist

The factories are closing and the army's full -
I don't know what i'm going to do
But i've come to see in the land of the free
There's only a future for the chosen few

Just because you're better than me
Doesn't mean i'm lazy
Just because you're going forwards
Doesn't mean i'm going backwards

At twenty one you're on to of the scrapheap
At sixteen you were top of the class
All they taught you at school
Was how to be a good worker
The system has failed you, don't fail yourself

Just because you're better than me
Doesn't mean i'm lazy
Just because you're going forwards
Doesn't mean i'm going backwards


3.Richard

Richard belongs to jayne
And jayne belongs to yesterday
How can i go on
When every alpha particle hides a neon nucleus

Neil belongs to love
And love belongs to no man
How can he go on
When no-one answers the adverts in his mind?

Chorus:
There will be parties, there will be fun
There will be prizes for everyone
And hey, hey, hey, here comes richard
There will be ladies dressed in lace
I just want to see her face
When hey, hey, hey, here comes richard

You helped me build this bed
But you won't help me sleep in it
When i fall between you and the wall
Our titanic love affair sails on the morning tide

Chorus

I really love you style
Did you read it in the look and learn?
How long can we go on?
Do you think i only love you
Because you sleep with other boys

Chorus


4.New England

I was twenty one years when i wrote this song
I'm twenty two now, but i won't be for long
People ask when will you grow up to be a man
But all the girls i loved at school
Are already pushing prams

I loved you then as i love you still
Tho i put you on a pedestal,
They put you on the pill
I don't feel bad about letting you go
I just feel sad about letting you know

I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new england
I'm just looking for another girl
I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new england
I'm just looking for another girl

I loved the words you wrote to me
But that was bloody yesterday
I can't survive on what you send
Every time you need a friend

I saw two shooting stars last night
I wished on them but they were only satellites
Is it wrong to wish on space hardware
I wish, i wish, i wish you'd care

I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new england
I'm just looking for another girl


5.The Man In The Iron Mask

When he drops you off, i will not say
Who was that who so quickly drove away...
The things you've done and the places you've been
When i open the door for you
I will not let them in...

As long as you come back to me
I will never ask
For you i will be
The man in the iron mask

You said you love me and it broke my heart
I was always your prisoner right from the start
The nights you spend without me
This house is like a dungeon
And you only return to torture me more

You must have your reasons
I will no ask -
For you i will be
The man in the iron mask


6.The Busy Girl Buys Beauty

The busy girl buys beauty
The pretty girl buys style
And the simple girl buys
What she's told to buy
And sees her world
Through the brightly lit eyes
Of the glossy romance of fashion
Where she can learn...
Top tips for the gas cook
Successful secrets of a sexual kind
The daily drill for beautiful hair
And the truth about pain

What was anna ford wearing?
What did angela rippon say?
What will you do
When you wake up one morning
To find that god's made you plain
In a beautiful person's world?
And all those quick recipes
Have let you down
And you're 20½ and not yet engaged
Will you go look for the boy who says
I love you let's get married and have kids

The busy girl buys beauty
The pretty girl buys style
And the simple girl buys
What she's told to buy
Through the brightly lit eyes
Of the glossy romance of fashion
Where she can learn...
Top tips for the gas cook
Successful secrets of a sexual kind
The daily drill for beautiful hair
In a mail order paradise...


7.Lovers Town Revisited

It's that summer of the evening
Get ready and roll the cassette
There's boys outside preaching genocide
And trying to think up some sort of threat
And the ladies in the cloakroom
Take no notice of me
I wish myself was back at home
But there's nothing safe in watching tv

There's something born tomorrow
That i lost when i was out for a drink
How many gangs is it gonna take
To change the way i think
It takes more than good intentions
And a big bloke on the door
And though it's never the same after the first time
That doesn't stop them coming back for more

Fighting in the dance halls happens anyway
Sometimes it makes me stop and think
Sometimes it makes me turn away
Sometimes it makes me stop and think
Sometimes it makes me turn away
Sometimes it makes me stop and think
But most times it makes me run away