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Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire)











Victoria

Written by: Ray Davies

Publisher: Hill & Range Songs BMI

Long ago life was clean

Sex was bad and obscene

And the rich were so mean

Stately homes for the Lords

Croquet lawns, village greens

Victoria was my queen

Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria

I was born, lucky me

In a land that I love

Though I am poor, I am free

When I grow I shall fight

For this land I shall die

Let her sun never set

Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria

Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, toria

Land of hope and gloria

Land of my Victoria

Land of hope and gloria

Land of my Victoria

Victoria, 'toria

Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria

Canada to India

Australia to Cornwall

Singapore to Hong Kong

From the West to the East

From the rich to the poor

Victoria loved them all

Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria

Victoria, Victoria, Victoria

Yes Sir, No Sir

Written by: Ray Davies

Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI

Yes Sir, no Sir

Where do I go Sir

What do I do Sir

What do I say

Yes Sir, no Sir

Where do I go Sir

What do I do Sir

How do I behave

Yes Sir, no Sir

Permission to speak Sir

Permission to breathe Sir

What do I say, how do I behave, what do I say

So you think that you've got ambition

Stop your dreaming and your idle wishing

You're outside and there ain't no admission

To our play

Pack up your ambition in your old kit bag

Soon you'll be happy with a packet of fags

Chest out stomach in

Do what I say, do what I say

Yes right away

Yes Sir, no Sir

Where do I go Sir

What do I do Sir

What do I say

Yes Sir, no Sir

Permission to speak Sir

Permission to breathe Sir

What do I say, how do I behave, what do I say

Doesn't matter who you are

You're there and there you are

Everything Is in its place

Authority must be maintained

And then we know exactly where we are

Let them feel that they're important to the cause

But let them know that they are fighting for their homes

Just be sure that they're contributing their all

Give the scum a gun and make the bugger fight

And be sure to have deserters shot on sight

If he dies we'll send a medal to his wife

Yes Sir, no Sir

Please let me die Sir

I think this life is affecting my brain

Yes Sir, no Sir

Three bags full Sir

What do I do Sir, what do I say

What do I say, how do I behave, what do I say

Some Mother's Son

Written by: Ray Davies

Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI

Some mother's son lies in a field

Someone has killed some mother's son today

Head blown up by some soldier's gun

While all the mothers stand and wait

Some mother's son ain't coming home today

Some mothers son ain't got no grave

Two soldiers fighting in a trench

One soldier glances up to see the sun

And dreams of games he played when he was young

And then his friend calls out his name

It stops his dream and as he turns his head

A second later he is dead

Some mother's son lies in a field

Back home they put his picture in a frame

But all dead soldiers look the same

While all the parents stand and wait

To meet their children coming home from school

Some mother's son is lying dead

Somewhere someone is crying

Someone is trying to be so brave

But still the world keeps turning

Though all the children have gone away

Some mother's son lies in a field

But in his mother's eyes he looks the same

As on the day he went away

They put his picture on the wall

They put flowers in the picture frame

Some mothers memory remains

Drivin'

Written by: Ray Davies

Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI

It seems like all the world is fighting

They're even talking of a war

Let all the Russians and the Chinese

And the Spanish do their fighting

The sun is shining

We're going drivin', drivin'

Drop all your work

Leave it behind

Forget all your problems

And get in my car

And take a drive with me

The sandwiches are packed

The tea is in the flask

We've plenty of beer

And gooseberry tarts

So take a drive with me

We'll take your mother if you want to

We'll have a picnic on the grass

Forget your nephews

And your cousins and your brothers and your sisters

They'll never miss us

'Cos we'll be drivin', drivin'. drivin'. drivin'

Thousands of trees

Hundreds of fields

Millions of birds

So why don't you come

And take a drive with me

We'll talk to the cows

And laugh at the sheep

We'll lie in a field

And we'll have a sleep

So take a drive with me

And all the troubled world around us

Seems an eternity away

And all the debt collectors

Rent collectors

All will be behind us

But they'll never find us

'Cos we'll be drivin', drivin', drivin', drivin'

Passed Barnet Church

Up to Potters Bar

We won't be home late

It's not very far

So take a drive with me, take a drive with me

Drivin', drivin', drivin', drivin'

Brainwashed

Written by: Ray Davies

Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI

You look like a real human being

But you don't have a mind of your own

Yeah, you can talk, you can breathe

You can work, you can stitch, you can sew

But you're brainwashed

Yes you are, yes you are

Get down on your knees

You've got a job and a house

And a wife, and your kids and a car

Yeah, you're conditioned to be

What they want you to be

And be happy to be where you are

Yes you are

Get down on your knees

Get down on your knees

The aristocrats and bureaucrats

Are dirty rats

For making you what you are

They're up there and you re down here

You're on the ground and they're up with the stars

All your life they've kicked you around and pushed you around

Till you can't take any more

To them you're just a speck of dirt

But you don't want to get up off the floor

Mister you're just brainwashed

They give you social security

Tax saving benefits that grow at maturity

Yeah, you're conditioned to be

What they want you to be

And to do what they want you to

Yes you are, yes you are

Get down on your knees

Australia

Written by: Ray Davies

Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI

Opportunities are available in all walks of life in Australia

So if you're young and if you're healthy

Why not get a boat and come to Australia

Australia, the chance of a lifetime

Australia, you get what you work for

Nobody has to be any better than what they want to be

Australia, no class distinction

Australia, no drug addiction

Nobody's got a chip on their shoulder

We'll surf like they do in the U.S.A.

We'll fly down to Sydney for our holiday

On sunny Christmas Day

Australia, Australia

No one hesitates at life or beats around the bush in Australia

So if you're young and if you're healthy

Why not get a boat and come to Australia

Australia sha-la-la-la sha-la-la-la

Australia sha-la-la-la sha-la-la-la

Everyone walks around with a perpetual smile across

their face

Australia sha-la-la-la sha-la-la-la

Australia sha-la-la-la sha-la-la-la

Everyone gets around and nobody can ever get you down

We'll surf like they do in the U.S.A.

We'll fly down to Sydney for our holiday

On sunny Christmas Day

Australia, Australia

Shangri-la

Written by: Ray Davies

Publisher: Hill & Range Songs BMI

Now that you've found your paradise

This is your Kingdom to command

You can go outside and polish your car

Or sit by the fire in your Shangri-la

Here is your reward for working so hard

Gone are the lavatories in the back yard

Gone are the days when you dreamed of that car

You just want to sit in your Shangri-la

Put on your slippers and sit by the fire

You've reached your top and you just can't get any higher

You're in your place and you know where you are

In your Shangri-la

Sit back in your old rocking chair

You need not worry, you need not care

You can't go anywhere

Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la

The little man who gets the train

Got a mortgage hanging over his head

But he's too scared to complain

'Cos he's conditioned that way

Time goes by and he pays off his debts

Got a TV set and a radio

For seven shillings a week

Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la,

Shangri-la.

Shangri-la

And all the houses in the street have got a name

'Cos all the houses in the street they look the same

Same chimney pots, same little cars, same window panes

The neighbors call to tell you things that you should know

They say their lines, they drink their tea, and then they go

They tell your business in another Shangri-la

The gas bills and the water rates, and payments on the car

Too scared to think about how insecure you are

Life ain't so happy in your little Shangri-la

Shangri-la, Shangri-la la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

Put on your slippers and sit by the fire

You've reached your top and you just can't get any higher

You're in your place and you know where you are

In your Shangri-la

Sit back in your old rocking chair

You need not worry, you need not care

You can't go anywhere

Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la, Shangri-la,

Shangri-la,

Shangri-la

Mr. Churchill Says

Written by: Ray Davies

Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI

Well Mr. Churchill says, Mr. Churchill says

We gotta fight the bloody battle to the very end

Mr. Beaverbrook says we gotta save our tin

And all the garden gates

And empty cans are gonna make us win

We shall defend our island

On the land and on the sea

We shall fight them on the beaches

On the hills and in the fields

We shall fight them in the streets

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed to so few

'Cos they have made our British Empire

A better place for me and you

And this was their finest hour

Well Mr. Montgomery says

And Mr. Mountbatten says

We gotta fight the bloody battle to the very end

As Vera Lynn would say

We'll meet again someday

But all the sacrifices we must make before the end

Did you hear that plane flying overhead

There's a house on fire and there's someone lying dead

We gotta clean up the streets

And get me back on my feet

Because we wanna be free

Do your worst and we'll do our best

We're gonna win the way that Mr. Churchill says

Oh! oh! oh! oh! oh! oh! Well Mr. Churchill says

We gotta hold up our chins

We gotta show some courage and some discipline

We gotta black up the windows and nail up the doors

And keep right on till the end of the war

She Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina

Written by: Ray Davies

Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI

She's bought a hat like Princess Marina's

To wear at all her social affairs

She wears it when she's cleaning the windows

She wears it when she's scrubbing the stairs

But you will never see her at Ascot

She can't afford the time or the fare

But she's bought a hat like Princess Marina's

So she don't care

He's bought a hat like Anthony Eden's

Because it makes him feel like a Lord

But he can't afford a Rolls or a Bentley

He has to buy a secondhand Ford

He tries to feed his wife and his family

And buy them clothes and shoes they can wear

But he's bought a hat like Anthony Eden's

So he don t care

Buddy can you spare me a dime

My wife is getting hungry

And the kids are crying

This poverty is hurting my pride

Buddy can you spare me, buddy can you spare me a dime

She's bought a hat like Princess Marina's

And her neighbors think it suits her a treat

But she hasn't any food in the larder

Nor has anybody else in the street

But to look at her you'd think she was wealthy

'Cos she smiles just like a real millionaire

'Cos she's bought a hat like Princess Marina's

So she don't care, she don't care, she don't care, she don't care

Young And Innocent Days

Written by: Ray Davies

Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI

I look back at the way I used to look at life

Soft, white dreams with sugar coated outside

It was great, so great

Young and innocent days

I wish my eyes could only see

Everything, exactly as it used to be

It's too late, so late

Young and innocent days

I see the lines across your face

Time has gone and nothing ever can replace

Those great, so great

Young and innocent days

Nothing To Say

Written by: Ray Davies

Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI

Remember walking with you by my side

You were my Papa and I was your pride

Now I've got children and I'm going grey

No time for talking I got nothin' to say

Those Sunday dinners that we had at home

Now I've got a house and I've got friends of my own

We can't do tomorrow what we did yesterday

It's best that we're going our separate ways, OK

How is your rheumatism (nothing to say)

How are your chillblains (nothing to say)

How's Aunty Mabel (nothing to say)

So far Papa, I got nothin' to say, OK

Those happy days we spent together

We thought our world would never change

How the days go by

And things will never be the same

You keep pretending that everything's fine

So you make small talk to help pass the time

But all the words that you spit from your face

Add up to nothin' you got nothin' to say

How are those noisy neighbors next door

I'll have to go soon 'cos I'm getting bored

I gotta be home early to see a good play

So far Papa, I got nothin' to say

How is your life insurance (nothing to say)

How is your trade union (nothing to say)

How is your Independence (nothing to say)

So for Papa, I got nothin' to say

Arthur

Written by: Ray Davies

Published by: Hill & Range Songs BMI

Arthur was born just a plain simple man

In a plain simple working class position

Though the world was hard and its ways were set

He was young and he had so much ambition

All the way he was overtaken

By the people who make the big decisions

But he tried and he tried for a better life

And a way to improve his own condition

If only life were easy it would be such fun

Things would be more equal and be plenty for everyone

Arthur the world's gone and passed you by

Don't you know it, don't you know it

You can cry, cry all night but it won't make it right

Don't ya know it, don't ya know it

Arthur we know and we sympathize

Don't ya know it, don't ya know it

Arthur we like you and want to help you

Somebody loves you don't you know it

How is your life and your Shangri-la

And your long lost land of Hallelujah

And your hope and glory has passed you by

Can't you see what the world is doing to ya

And now we see your children

Sailing off in the setting sun

To a new horizon

Where there's plenty for everyone

Arthur, could be

That the world was wrong

Don't ya know it, don't ya know it

Arthur, could be

You were right all along

Don't ya know it, I hope ya know it

Now we know and we sympathize

We'd like to help you and understand you

Don't ya know it, don't ya know it

Somebody loves you, don't ya know it

Don't ya know it, don't ya know it

Arthur the world's gone and passed you by

Don't ya know it, don't ya know it

You can cry, cry all night

But it won't make it right

Don't ya know it, don't ya know it

Arthur we read you and understand you

Arthur we like you and want to help you

Oh! we love you and want to help you