Where I'm Coming From

Lyrics written by Neil O'Brien.


It's not inner-city / But it's not yet suburbia
It's a fading remnant / Of a dying culture -
Working class pride / In a functioning community
That's being torn apart / By the capitalist economy

Bang went the pits / In came the supermarkets
Figures fiddled, lives fucked / In pursuit of government targets
Cutting social spending / To plump the pillows of the rich
Labour follow the Tory lead / And it makes me fucking sick

Now people round here / Don't have expectations
They dream of the lottery / Like that'll solve their problems
No more scraping by / No more insecurity
Get the hell out of here / And try to live like celebrities

But until then / It's TV and sedation
Smack, weed, drink and pills / In the search for oblivion
Nihilist-hedonists / Without knowing what that means
Hiding from a reality / Coming apart at the seams

This could be anywhere / This is nowhere
To some
This is where I'm from / It's nothing special
But it's home

Know thy neighbour as thyself / That is, not at all
A stranger in the mirror / With no pride before you fall
To boredom and stress / This plague is pandemic
An industrial disease / It's not hard to credit

There's no dignity in work / That smothers individuality
Beneath a uniform / And a corporate mentality
But things are no better / When you're living on the dole
Being endlessly monitored / Like you're out on parole

Taken home by the police / In my fourteenth year
With the bizzies sneering / "They're all scum round here"
And I'm sitting there thinking / I'd like to break this fucker's neck
Use the language of violence / To teach him a little respect

Cos these are my people / And I'd like to think that we're still one
Not just an atomised mass / After the damage that's been done

Is it too late? I want to know
Is it really too late?
Is it too late
To make a change now?

This could be anywhere / Cos everywhere seems the same
This is where I'm from / But it's not where I want to remain