Vengeance - The Independent Story

Once upon a time it was easy
Everything kind of fell into place
Now this feeling won't leave me
We lost the power and we lost the pace
It's staring straight between the eyes
Something isn't right
The harder we try the more we realise
Something isn't right
So bittersweet, this whole thing, so bitter sweet

Caught in this struggle for power
Where only blood ever tastes sweet
Everything else is so sour
The numbing failures and defeats
The loner's not a western hero
With nerves of steel and heart of gold
But here alone in the disco - icy cold
But there's always another morning
We're never dead till the last breath
So bittersweet, this whole thing, so bitter sweet

We know we can hurt each other real bad
You know my weak spots, I know yours
How come we egg each other on and on
Like battered boxers staying the course?
How come we never ever come to blows
When we want to break each other's necks?
How come we stab each other with these words
When all we really want is sex?
Why can't we talk it out
Why can't we fight it out
Why can't we kiss and and go to bed
The seething angers burns around the room
The carefully poisoned arrows fly
And in the morning dirty tired hearts
And the scars of battle in our eyes

Like a desert, so smooth
So calm, like velvet
Like wire, so taut
So stretched, like steel
The surface is rippling
And straining and cracking
From within
Like a bomb just ticking
And waiting like hours
And hours keep folding
And winding and stretching
And deep down inside
The foundations are tearing apart
And the holes are all gaping
Swallowing everything
Please take me out of this dream
Tension
Nightmares like circles
Of lies all hidden
Seething and smouldering
Under the covers
No fire, no passion
But uneasy silence
And peace
In terror I'm waiting
For the one great explosion
Please take me out of this dream
Tension

When I was young I dreamed and dreamed
About all the things that I was going to be
A brave explorer holding court or a really famous astronaut
A handsome pop star on the screen or captain of the England team
They said "Son, it could all be yours, you just work hard and pay your dues
Don't be content with what you've got, there's always more that you can want
Everybody's on the make - that's what made this country great"

Ch: So all I wanted in the end
Was world domination and a whole lot of money to spend
A little place to call my home, like a planet that was all my own
Well that's not much to ask, it's really not
It's not much to ask, just the same as anybody else

So welcome to the free for all, the smash and grab, the freeloaders ball
Where everything is here for us if we scream, shout, make a fuss
There's nothing that we can't afford with a poisoned tongue and a sharpened sword
Spoilt children in a row - no one dares to tell them "no"

Ch: So all I wanted in the end
Was world domination and a whole lot of money to spend
Everything I touch, everything I see, fame and fortune, immortality
Well that's not much to ask, it's really not
It's not much to ask, just the same as anybody else

So in every heart there's a broken dream, a shattered cause, a might have been
In every eye there's a secret tear, in every heart there's a secret fear
That this is it, done, complete. Resign yourself to your defeat
The bitterness behind the show - that's where spoilt children go

There's absolutely nothing on my mind
The television flickers in my eyes
Waiting, always waiting

Down at the bus station, doing time
We watch the world go passing by
Waiting, always waiting
It's all on tomorrow, don't worry today
Another year over but it's all okay
They told us of the Second Coming so we look to the sky
It's not a saviour we want, just someone else to crucify
Waiting, always waiting
But nothing happens, nothing ever happens

There's a witch hunt coming, screaming out on it's rebirth
There's a crusade coming, Hellfires back here on earth
See the light in their eyes shine, listen to their words like swords
The Christian militia is marching now
There's a witch hunt coming, born out of all the American fears
There's a new purge coming, an inquisition for all of us here
Hold onto your sanity as best you can
While some Hitler claims to speak for the Son of Man
The Christian militia is marching now
Hatred makes the adrenaline flow
Stir up the fire watch it grow
Everybody loves a righteous cause
Old lives forgotten in holy wars
Everything forgotten in holy wars

There's a nightmare coming, shut up your doors close your mind
There's a nightmare coming - Born Again, born again blind
The girls show the way, then show us their legs
With American showbiz razzmatazz
With sex in one hand and a gun in the other, Christ returns
The right-wing respectable clampdown clan
Find their figure head in a holy man
Here come the Christians an hysterical mob
Worshipping the Devil in the name of God
Worshipping the Devil in the name of God

Turn left at the lights about 50 yards down
There's a pub in the corner and I'll meet you inside
About quarter to eight and we'll go into town
And find out what everybody's been saying about us

Smalltown walls have eyes and ears
Stories fly thick and fast round here
Truth and lies are all the same
Whatever you do don't rock the boat
You've got to play the game, play the game
Ch: Is it a crime to want something else?
Is it a crime to believe in something different?
Is it a crime to want to make things happen?
To spit in the faces of the cynical fools

The incrowd know that the shell is thin
So they all protect the cage they're in
Get drunk and stoned and wrecked again
No tears of rage, no cries of pain
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
In smalltown England
Because the world outside the pint in hand
Is all so hard to understand
And if visions of the world come clear
They're not allowed to interfere
Ch: Is it a crime to want something else? . . .

The smell of hot food from the takeaway curry
Diesel fumes from a passing lorry
Waiting in the queue in the pouring rain
For the chip shop up on Bowling Lane
Well, last week we all got really smashed
We couldn't stand up, it was a real laugh
And this week's going to be just the same
And the next and the next, again and again
They say you've got to have fun while you're young
'Cause they can't believe there's anything else except this.

Take away our history
Take away our heroes
Take away our values
And leave us here with nothing
We were in the garden of Eden
Just as children mess around
We only leant against the tree
And the apple came tumbling down
You gave us what we asked for
But never what we wanted
We were only children
How could you have been so stupid
We went up to the steel walls
That guard the sacred town
We only whispered to ourselves
And the walls came tumbling down
We didn't want a victory
We just wanted to fight
But you wouldn't fight
You just gave in
You went and spoiled every game
You broke an everlasting chain
And nobody respects you for your weakness
Take away our idols
Take away our faith
Take away our hatred
And put us in this vacuum
Then say be yourself, please yourself
Express yourself some more
It's your right to do what you like
Because we can't really be bothered with you at all
We didn't want a victory
We just wanted to fight
But you wouldn't fight
You said it isn't nice to fight
You went and spoiled every game
You broke an everlasting chain
And nobody respects you for your weakness

Escaped the net in '45, hiding out in South America
Protected by money and powerful friends
Hoping the world has forgotten by now
All the things that you did in the Nazi Death camps
The people that you tortured and killed
You can live you life in expectant fear
Sure some day you'll be made to pay

Ch: I believe in justice
I believe in vengeance
I believe in getting the bastard

Man walks over dressed in flashy clothes
With an empty heart and a head full of money
Puts his arm around the lad of fifteen years
Talks sort of close like a long-lost brother
"It's really cool, all the pop stars do
If you don't try a little you'd really be a fool
Tell you what I'll do, I'll make the first one free
And when you want some more just come back to me"

[Alternative version of second verse:]
Loading up the barrels at the warehouse gates
Men in overalls on double rates
Put the stuff in the river and away for a beer
Don't worry too much, they don't live around here
And the poison seeps into every pore
Every child's eyes, every innocent's sore
Everybody knows behind the closed doors
Kick down the doors, kick down the doors

Ch: I believe in justice
I believe in vengeance
I believe in getting the bastard

Top-dog fascist gets the boys in the corner
Plants poison where there was just confusion
Walks away scot-free and laughing
Rides on the tide as the cancer grows
And the business man on corruption charges
With millions of dollars in dirty money
Gets a thousand pound fine after months in court
While the lawyers get fat and the law gets bought

Ch: I believe in justice
I believe in vengeance
I believe in getting the bastard

Look at my eyes - you know what it is
I want you, I want you
The way your body moves beneath that dress
And all the nights I've spent away alone in sleeplessness
It's a hunger that we can fill
Racing, racing
And every nerve tingles with it
I want you, I want you
You know the way that I can make you feel
Of all the faces in the crowd, there's only you
Pull down your hair a little
Open up your mouth a little
You're beautiful, you're the best
This feeling that you know oh so well
Your oldest friend from the fires, the fires of hell
And I want you now
Driving down
Driving down
Into the fires
Every stretch and move is like a dream
Eating, biting, scratching
And all there is, is these racing pulses
And the breathing
Forget all the lies that they gave to you
Believe in this 'cause how could this feeling not be true
Driving down

So many words are spoken
Round and round and round and round
So many confidences broken in this town
Too many cigarettes, I don't want to feel like this anymore
I go running, running in the rain

The television programmes
Go round and round and round and round
Oh God, I wish you were still here
Oh yes, I'm sorry for what I said
I love you, but I still wish you were dead
Now I'm running, running in the rain

So much time for thinking
Round and round and round and round
The boys all go drinking just to shut it out
Out here in the storm
You know that you're alive
Running, running in the rain

Ch: Dead men in the South Atlantic
It's meant to warm our hearts
They think that they died for you and me
Oh God, what a farce, what a farce

And now it's the repeats
Plugging the Falklands and the Falklands' spirit
Show the pictures again and again
Till the next war comes around
'Cause we'll kill if we only have something to kill for
We'll die if we only have something to die for
We'll cheer if we only have something to cheer for
That is worthy of the name
Oh yes the next war (I never believed it)
See the propaganda in TV fiction (I never believed it)
Enemies with horns and tails

Ch: There are dead men in the South Atlantic
It's meant to warm our hearts
They think that they died for you and me
Oh God, what a farce, what a farce

There's crippled men back home in England
Doesn't it warm your hearts
They think they fought for peace and freedom
Poor boys, what a farce, what a farce

Ch: And still the fires won't go out
That no power of the mind can drive away
And still all I ever see are your eyes calling
And the sadness and the hatred and the love and the pain

Everybody knows this aching like an old friend
And everybody feels it the same
But I'm out here in this desperate night in the middle of nowhere
Driving faster, faster through the rain

Ch: And still the fires won't go out

Am I trying to raise a toast when the glass is already empty?
Am I paying the price now the wasted years are through?
I swear that those eyes cut deeper into me
Than they'll ever cut into you.

You say that you'd rather be really poor
Than scratching, saving, scrimping all the pennies
Looking in the windows at what you can't afford
Always hungry, never starving
In no man's land the days are long

You say that you'd rather be really ill
Than just having headaches, never have no energy
All the little allergies and all the little pains
Never getting better, never getting worse
In no man's land the days are long

You say that you'd rather have no love at all
Than pathetic little words, half-hearted kisses
Never feeling anything, anything at all
Never no fire, never no passion
In no man's land the days are long

Do you believe you can come out, fighting from you shell-hole
Or do you run for cover every time you hear a shot fired in anger?