Take Down The Union Jack (CD Two – Red)

Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset
And put it in the attic with the emperors old clothes
When did it fall apart? Sometime in the 80s
When the Great and the Good gave way to the greedy and the mean
Britain isn’t cool you know, its really not that great
It’s not a proper country, it doesn’t even have a patron saint
It’s just an economic union that’s passed its sell-by date

Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset
And ask our Scottish neighbours if independence looks any good
‘Cos they just might understand how to take an abstract notion
Of personal identity and turn it into nationhood
Is this the 19th century that I’m watching on tv?
The dear old Queen of England handing out those MBEs
Member of the British Empire – that doesn’t sound too good to me

Gilbert and George are taking the piss aren’t they?
Gilbert and George are taking the piss.
What could be more British than here’s a picture of my bum?
Gilbert and George are taking the piss

Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset
And pile all those history books, but don’t throw them away
They just might have some clues about what it really means
To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in England.co.uk

There’s a chill tonight on the Yarra
Winter is creeping in
While far away my loved ones
Wake up in England’s spring

And although delights await me
All the way to Flinders Street
It’s that little piece of heaven
With which they must compete

When The Saints take on The Magpies
Some day too far away
I barrack for St. Kilda
In that funny game they play

But my heart’s not really in it
My mind wanders to a town
Where The Hammers sing “I’m forever blowing bubbles”
And the rain comes pouring down

Yes, it’s still raining in England
Guess that’s why I like it here
There’s a brolly in my hotel room
For when the skies aren’t clear

‘Cos it never rains in Sydney
And it never rains in Perth
Adelaide’s a desert
And Brisbane’s just scorched earth

So excuse me please such days as there
And send me to the town
Where the children sing when St. Kilda win
And the rain comes falling down

So wake me up tomorrow
And send me home again
To where The Hammers sing “I’m forever blowing bubbles”
In the pouring London rain

My mother was half English and I’m half English too
I’m a great big bundle of culture tied up in the red white and blue
I’m a fine example of your Essex man
And I’m well familiar with the Hindustan
Cos my neighbours are half English and I’m half English too

My breakfast was half English and so am I you know
I had a plate of Marmite soldiers washed down with a cappuccino
And I have a veggie curry about once a week
The next day I fry it up as bubble and squeak
Cos my appetites half English and I’m half English too

Dance with me to this very English melody
From morris dancing to Morrissey,
all that stuff came from across the sea

Britannia, she’s half English, she speaks Latin at home
St George was born in the Lebanon, how he got here I don’t know
And those three lions on your shirt,
They never sprang from England’s dirt
Them lions are half English and I’m half English too

Le-li Umma le-li-ya, le-li Umma le-li-ya,
Le-li Umma le-li-ya, bledi g’desh akh! le-li-ya

Oh my country, what a beautiful country you are