Get all 46 Joe Solo releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Farewell Hatfield Main, Sledgehammer Songs, Twenty From Twenty, Answer Machine/See You When I Get There, These Are My People, Fight The Good Fight Club Revisited, Upstairs At Park Street, Collected, and 38 more.
1. |
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For all my people fighting
For a better fairer land
For those who raise a fist
And those who lend a helping hand
For those who say no more
And draw a line there in the sand
Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
For the workers with the bottle left
To ballot for a strike
To the ones who swallow down their fear
And step up to the mic
For them who.click the 'Share'
And yeah, for them who click the 'Like'
Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
The past won't last forever
It's changing now.
Gay, Straight, Bi or Trans we stand
Together not apart
I've an LGBT rainbow flag here
Flying in my heart
We should never be afraid to love
Or be just who we are
Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
The past won't last forever
It's changing now
To them who see a refugee and say
'You can't come in"
For those who judge somebody
By the colour of their skin
You may well shout the loudest
But we'll never let you win
Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
I will not sell tomorrow
For an easy life today
If you come for my people
I'll be there stood in the way
Cos solidarity means
Stand together come what may
Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
The past won't last forever
It's changing now
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2. |
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You must be ever so proud of your country
To beat up a man on a train
Was your heartbeat the roar of those lions?
Was St George slaying dragons again?
You didn't stop when you'd broken his glasses
Or the blood splatter fell just like rain
You must be ever so proud of your country
To beat up a man on a train.
Chorus:
So I'll stand with my brothers and sisters
Whatever their colour, their class or their creed
I will run to their side in an instant
And hold out my hand in their hour of need
See England is not in your hatred
It's not in the kicks and the punches you aim
No, England needs a new pair of glasses now
England was that man on the train
I've given you lads a fair hearing
And I've come to accept that it's true
And Engerland does need defending
But it needs defending from you
And yes I believe in that freedom of speech
That you've been out preaching all day
But it seems that your version of freedom of speech
Is the freedom to take mine away
Chorus
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3. |
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My Grandfather told me:
"They'll always need coal, son.
There's billions of tons
Stretching under the sea.
It's not just a job,
It's a whole way of life, son.
You were born for that pit
Like your father and me."
He'd come from the Auld Country
Like so many men here
And he'd sank that pit
With his blood, sweat and tears.
And though it bent his back
And he knackered his lungs there
He worked at the coal face
For forty-odd years.
Chorus:
So Rise Up, Rise Up
Mining brothers and sisters
Though they shut the pit
And the old Welfare Hall
And then raided our pensions
We raise up the banner
If they think that we're beat
They don't know us at all.
For twenty-odd years
Coal put food on the table
A roof over our heads
And shoes on our feet.
The lads had my back
And I had theirs the same, son.
And that's how you lose
Without knowing defeat.
Chorus.
When I look to the pit head
The big wheel's stopped turning
I think of that coal
Stretching under the sea.
And I think of me Grandad
His Irish eyes smiling
And I know that it stands there
In his memory.
Chorus
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4. |
Singing The Truth
03:18
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Chorus:
I'm only singing the truth
I'm only singing the truth
It's what I see as what I've got to do
I'm only singing the truth
I'm only singing the truth
If you don't like it then the problem here is you
There was a rasta telecaster man
Who struck it like a bullet from the heart
He didn't come preaching from a masterplan
But sure as hell he showed us where to start
He said: "I'm not here to tell you who you are, now.
You can be just what you choose.
I'm not here to tell you what to think,
I'm here to tell you if you don't think then you lose."
Chorus
I read the gospel of the travellin' man
Who'd jump the train and hop from town to town
He'd hear the stories of the working man
And he would sing of what he found
He said: "This land of ours was built by many people,
You'll never find in a book.
I'm not trying to tell you what to see,
I'm trying to tell you that you need to take a look."
Chorus
I'm not singing at you now, I'm singing for you.
Cos I don't want you to forget
That tomorrow's promised out to no-one
And the future? Well it isn't over yet.
Chorus
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5. |
Many A Devil
03:42
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Last night I dreamed
I was ragged and torn
I'd been crushed of all hope
Since the day I was born
I was faceless and nameless
And barely fifteen
Was the 16th of August
In 1819
Last night I dreamed
I'd no shoes on my feet
Stood in St Peter's Field
In the midsummer heat
And someone there spoke
Of a long distant dream
Was the 16th of August
In 1819
Well I knew of St Peter
A fisherman born
Did it take all his faith up
To ride out a storm?
And before he met Christ
Then to whom did he pray?
There was many a devil
But no God there that day
Last night I dreamed
Of a cavalry horse
Rearing up there before me
The magistrate's force
With the flash of a blade
Heard a young woman scream
Was the 16th of August
In 1819
I knew of St Peter
And three times he lied
With his own eyes a witness
Yet still he denied
There was no son of God
Just a man to betray
There was many a devil
But no God there that day
Last night I dreamed
Of a soldier before me
I looked in his eyes
And I saw only hate
I turned to my people
All bloodied and broken
And fifteen lay dead
At the hands of the State
Well I knew of St Peter
Would he look down in shame
At the blood on this field here
Now bearing his name?
When nailed to a cross of his own
Could he pray?
There was many a devil
But no God there that day.
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6. |
Jayaben Desai
02:36
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7. |
Land Fit For Heroes
04:36
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Chorus:
Bring us that 'Land Fit For Heroes' you promised
I was raised to think breaking a promise was wrong
So bring us that 'Land Fit For Heroes' you promised
For until then the fight goes on
I'll be proud of this country
The day it remembers
It wasn't just Englishmen
Died at my side
There were colours and creeds
From all over the world there
I loved them as brothers
And recall them with pride
Chorus
I'll be proud of this country
The day it remembers
It sent us to die
In a war to end wars
So each bomb you drop
And each bullet you fire now
Dishonours our name
And brings shame upon yours
Chorus
I'll be proud of this country
The day it remembers
A land is its people
Not a palace and Crown
And you may 'Remember Them'
Every November
But each day their ghosts
Walk the streets of this town
They're now empty chairs
At the head of a table
They're bicycles rusting
Away in a shed
They're echoes of laughter
In long-silent hallways
These are the ghosts
Of your 'Glorious Dead'
Chorus
Bring us the Land Fit For Heroes you promised
Or it weren't for freedom we died after all
Cos I fought for that Land Fit For Heroes you promised
Not to buy Lady Muck a new mask for the ball....
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8. |
To Love & To Be Loved
01:53
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I've been the whole world over
And in my travelling days
I met boys and girls
Who loved boys and girls
In a million different ways
But I never met nobody
Whose aching heart didn't yearn
To love and to be loved
To love and to be loved
To love and to be loved
In return
So fly a flag of rainbows
And sing out from your heart
And drown out all those voices
Who would have us live apart
Cos I've been the whole world over
And a fire always burns
To love and to be loved
To love and to be loved
To love and to be loved
In return
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Joe Solo Scarborough, UK
Joe Solo is an award-winning musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from
Scarborough.
Live he has an ever growing reputation as both a performer and raconteur, being thought-provoking, comical and punch-the-air political often in the same breath.
He is not an artist you forget in a hurry.
... more
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