SMYLING AT POLLYTICKS

i remember when thatcher went  1990?
she packed her hernias up in her iron handbag

i had my forever jeans on back then 
heavy brown army boots that they liked in the tattoo parlour
my army coat from germany id bought in wales
beer breath and marlboro fingers from all yesterdays parties
i would let my pockets fill up with refuse as proof of life
as proof of something anyway

we all smiled about it  thatcher going  the iron handbag  
we were all caught in the sun that day
we seemed to be born with a healthy tory hate 

still news was 
what-the-fuck-is-that-to-do-with-me-? 
back then

it wasnt a 60s rock classic or obscure motown  you see ?
it wasnt a niche kung fu rapture  or the clash
it wasnt those rolling papers on a reel like little bog rolls

i knew good news when i saw it tho

so we all smiled  all caught in the sun
except r****** h***** who had tory parents
he bravely expressed a different veiw
he was very put out by our suprise and abuse
i hid 15 cigarettes in his under-chin beard
this cheered him up but i never looked at him the same again


well we all smiled
we all smoked in the college overflow carpark
we all smoked there behind the empty tennis courts
we played dylans its all over now baby blue
the sun seemed tender but thats the rose glass of remembering . . .
our youth made the abyss of blackness just grey like rain 
our youth wouldnt let us see true black back then

i remember when all the tories were out  97 ?
they packed their truffles away in their bentleys
we smiled again where ever we all were then
we were scattered far from the overflow carpark by now
i felt a little weight lift like if the sun would come out more

to me news now was mostly 
what-the-fuck-is-that-!? 

id watched too much news in those 7 years
id done some sociology in a class of clean jeans
id done some philosophy in a class of long black coats
id done some politics taught by a morris dancer

i wanted the world to run on some neo-marxist barter system
something like that anyway

it was a different what-the-fuck to before
i thought i had seen deep inside the naked lunch hamper
i knew everything was a rich mans trick
i wanted to live in a cave on a hill

well there were smiles in 99 too
something happened in the dome didnt it ?
there was some song and a relaunch ?
there was maybe a rebranding ?
there was something anyway
maybe i should look in my pockets for clues
theres proof of life in there

i was on the embankment with a stranger was on my shoulders
i was waiting to die from tension  fireworks  24hr whisky

there was optimism again wasnt there ?
the optimism wasnt mine tho
i had dropped the ball by then
i had dropped all the balls
i had thrown the balls up in the dark air and walked off
i was growing great black leather death wings
i was growing a breakdown accelerator mind
i was listening to the gun club
i wanted to live in cheers

back then we were heavily into the night 
back then we were team scotch unstoppable
back then there was go-fast powder in the macdonalds straw
we posed like charlies angels on westminster bridge
there was piss and beer cans and abandoned goodbye pies there

i have tidied out my pockets now
i am pared a down plastic zen master

i dont know anyone whos smiled at politics since then

apart from at george bush fumbles and that fat guy getting egged

from express.co.uk