Chumbawamba - Why Are We Still In Ireland? lyrics

Our settlers calling our kingdom great Our banners raised on high Baptized with the tide of history That won't lie down and die Words from our own good book to help us get by The sacrifice of our daily bread The hallowed be our domain For ever and ever the powers use their glory To chain our minds again Our lads growing into our men The unicorn stands triumphant But if we look a little closer it's chained like a slave The lion was crowned king of this land That it's only ever seen from behind bars in a cage This history of the winning side written on every page It's not as simple as being mislead, as us not wanting to see That most of us are born losers in the great society Fed on a diet of how grand things used to be An empire, two world wars, and Wimbly '66 But a Gordon Banks save couldn't save our ship We were sinking like a brick Till we were washed ashore in the South Atlantic The unicorn stands triumphant But if we look a little closer it's chained like a slave The lion was crowned king of this land That it's only ever seen from behind bars in a cage This history of the winning side written on every page And how can we as a people be so blind To taking so much but to close our minds To be so afraid of stepping over the line To bury our heads in the sands of time To champion those who take our everything And pretend that none of this is happening To turn away and stop wondering how things could be any different Living in the hope of a promise of a land fit for heroes' needs With the reason that if we got sod all Then at least we're white and free Hiding behind hand-me-down bigotry A nation of jurors judging others by the color of a book That was written for us on our behalf 'Cause we can't be bothered to look Beyond the headlines written verbatim by government crooks And tell me when is a lie not a lie? When it's told by someone who owns the truth And when is a joke not a joke? When the punchline is the Union Jackboot When is a war not a war? When those who started it know it can't be won And when is a country not a country? When it's partitioned and ruled by British guns England, oh England, I'll never sing your praise For all the blood you shed in long-gone days You still can't put your mind to changing your ways And while Britain's first and virtually its last Remaining colony is fighting with its very life To bring this monster to its knees We can't see the wood through the trees who the monster is And how could we as a people be so blind To taking so much but to close our minds To be so afraid of stepping over the line To bury our heads in the sands of time To champion those who take our everything And then pretend that none of this is happening To turn away and stop wondering how things could be so different The unicorn stands triumphant But if we look a little closer it's chained like a slave The lion was crowned king of this land That it's only ever seen from behind bars in a cage Do we stand against the tide or still pretend we're the master race? Do we stand against the tide or still pretend we're the master race?