Some things I can stand Some things I cannot But you are just sitting there Taking everything I’ve got So I use my free speech Make sure I have my say But the media distorts my every word So I can’t get away I say it’s bad stuff They say I say fair enough Is it fair? Is it enough?
6th June 2023 – I feel like I was being an everyman with ‘the media distorts my every word.’ My own personal views were never represented in media but those I aligned with often were. I don’t think this was about a particular incident, or at least I can’t remember it now but a very vague generalisation.
Have you got a cigarette for me to smoke? If I don’t have one soon I think I’ll choke The doctor says I should give up the weed He says they will make my lungs bleed – I try to breathe out but I always wheeze – Have you got a fag? Oh, please!
I always take a bag to the shop ‘Five thousand fags please’, I never stop All these little kids asking for a fag But I tell them that I need every drag – I try to breathe out but I always wheeze – Have you got a fag? Oh, please!
It got so bad I was seriously ill My throat was blocked, I couldn’t swallow a pill Lying on a hospital bed, still wanting a drag But now I’m really dying for a fag
Mastery exam is a sham Mastery test, mastery test Mastery exam is a sham Mastery test, mastery test I want a job, I want a job Failed the exam, failed the exam Sham
Read the papers and hear the news Someone’s point of distorted views When someone says it’s worse than you think You’d better believe it, you never saw the missing link
6th June 2023 – I so want to fix that last line, what a nightmare! In 1984 we didn’t have mainstream media – there was just media and it was mostly news with doses of opinion. Not much entertainment but that would soon be coming. There was no mainstream media because there wasn’t much in the way of alternative media, at least not easily discoverable. Anyway, I was already distrustful.
Enjoy and enjoy your life It’s the only one you’ve got Enjoy yourself but don’t shit on others Save yourself, it’s worth a lot So when someone hits you in the eye Just get up and cry ‘I’m only gonna die!’
4th June 1984 – I’d already figured out life’s pointlessness but it hadn’t started crippling me yet. I hadn’t heard of Stoicism or memento mori yet either.
Worship your god and clean your teeth Your breath stinks of your heroes Pray to Buddha from underneath The sheets, wrapped in your heroes The lying icons will never forgive The sins that you commit Commit to forgive Forgive and forget Forgot your heroes
Save the whale in the sea of blood Save the whale in the sea of blood A new handbag, a new rubber Stop the murderers good and proper Save the whale in the sea of blood Save the whale in the sea of blood
2nd June 2023 – By 1984 I had already been vegetarian for two years and inspired by lyrics and information from Crass, Flux of Pink Indians, Subhumans etc I dove into animal rights. One of the first places I would go to in Poole on Saturdays was a stall just outside the mall that always had stacks of provocative information. The things I saw there made me mad. I don’t know how much of an impact the pro-animal rights movement has had in current times but I am still anti-testing on animals for anything cosmetic. Surely by now, we don’t need to test further for things like shampoo. When it comes to cures for life-threatening diseases and viruses though I am in reluctant support. I started eating fish and some seafood again in 1998 though not all that often back then and I have been a pescatarian since – 41 years in total so far. In the 80s it was still seen as radical to be vegetarian and I could list off plenty of reasons to become one, especially as I was asked why anytime it came up. It made me mad that I would have to justify it. These days not many people are surprised at anyone being vegetarian and if anyone does ask me why I just say ‘all the reasons.’ The phrase Save The Whale was a popular slogan inspired by the Japanese slaughter of whales for ‘science’ as they liked people to believe but when I hear the term now all I can think about is the titular Cheech and Chong song, “Save the whale, yeah save the whale, ooooo save the whale, but kill the seals!” Damn, I haven’t seen a Cheech and Chong movie in a long time!
He did a good job when he hit me in the gob He took me out and gave me a clout And I was spitting blood, spitting blood He hit me in the face, put me in my place He showed me where to go, after hitting me on the nose Spitting blood, blood
1994ever 