Chumbawamba - Slap! Lyrics

some of the best gigs ever!

Thanks Yan, just listening and grooving to this with my love. Hugs. xx

Hugs back at ya Tagl xoxo

I Liked them when Chumbawamba came out and now just Discovering more of their music !! But Alas all good things must come to an End !! Bullock !! LOLOl

One of my favorite albums. Back in the nineties I wore this vinyl out listening and dancing. Great band live. one of the Funnest bands I've ever saw

No more walls
No more being ripped apart
Inspiration inspires
You can make a living
Or you can live.
Is this the way I should behave online?
We could ask Chumbawamba, but they're gone now.
We could throw in the towel, and comment
About how great they were
Or we could misbehave

Chumbawamba in context:
Those who want to reminisce
About how great the good ole days were
As far as I am concerned
Can go fuck themselves
Or do something now!
Can I say this in the comments section?
Or do I gotta let the good times roll,
And try to make it great again.
Don't give up!

pulled from the dark all ways

"So when the red light flashed, i thought this would be me...."

Such a great band to see live. So glad I got to see them a few times in L.A., early 90s

looooooooooooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. first listen today and I can't get the stuff out of my head!

This band is so good I burnt out on them a long time ago from listening to them too many times. This is what punk is supposed to be, not just form, but content that makes you think.

Splendid, they did several concerts with Cardiacs, so sad i missed those!!!

"Ulrike"

[Chorus]

You sometimes wonder and you sometimes wonder

Ten thousand Deutschmarks to hand me over

Oh you sometimes wonder and you sometimes wonder

You can make a living sometimes wondering

Don't think these bones can be sold when I'm long gone

Don't think that I should want to sell my soul for the Sundays

Don't wait for me to say I'm sorry--I won't

Who wants to be a green MP? I don't



[Repeat chorus]



Wise men say only fools rush in

But I can't help falling in love with you

Don't think I walked into banks to stand in the queue

Don't think I pressed up to the plexi-glass just to talk to you

Don't wait for me to say I'm sorry - I won't

Who wants to be a green MP? - I don't



[Repeat chorus]

"Tiananmen
Square"

Heads bowed, eyes
down, here comes the enemy

To hail the people's victory! Which people? What victory?

It's the People's Army that murdered the people

They've come to glue the shattered, battered statues in the square

Heads bowed, eyes down, here comes the enemy

With a haircut and a trigger-finger, that could be me!

Tanks tearing a hole in the silence

I've got armor-piercing rockets in my pocket--watch out!

[Chatter]

You must've seen it, the boy in the white shirt



You want a fight? Yeah, you and whose army?

The people is bigger than the People's Army

My dad is bigger than your dad, and one day, one day

Raw and angry in front of the enemy

So it's turn back or kill. Boy versus tank

You want a fight? Yeah, you and whose army?

Here soldier, have a watermelon--this'll cool you down!

"Cartrouble"

Big tall
courthouse, a clock upon the wall

A hammer on the table and a copper on the door

A judge in front and a jury at the side

A judge in front and a jury at the side

A judge in front and a jury at the side

And a Bible on the stand to say I won't tell lies

Well it's one o'clock, two o'clock, any old o'clock

Between the rock and roll devil and the fear of god

Big brotherly love runs shallow as skin

In the deep south of America

Can the lady take the stand now? Blah, blah, blah

And how comes a black woman drives her own car?

And what gives you the constitutional right

And what gives you the constitutional right

And what gives you the constitutional right

To drive a car through a junction on a red stop light?



Well it's one o'clock, two o'clock, any old o'clock

Between the rock and roll devil and the fear of god

Big brotherly love runs shallow as skin

In the deep south of Yorkshire

Well of course I drove the car through a red stop light

But well, I thought that law was just for whites

I saw the white folks drive through on green

I say, I saw the white folks drive through on green

I say, I saw the white folks drive through on green

So when the red light flashed, I thought this must be for me

Well it's one o'clock, two o'clock, any old o'clock

Just a fear of the people with a fear of god

Lancashire white girl tries to sing the blues

Well, I woke up this morning like I usually do

"Chase
PC's Flee Attack By Own Dog"

(Woof, woof,
woof, woooo)

Got my photograph taken with Elvis

Circled round the earth in a rocket ship

Found the world cup in a garden

And I must've saved a million drowning babies

You can imagine what a come down



Drug-busts and house fires

I didn't orbit the earth to be bossed around

By someone wearing flares!

Ain't nothin', ain't nothin', ain't nothin' but a hound dog

Ain't nothin', ain't nothin', ain't nothin' but a hound dog

Ain't nothin', ain't nothin', ain't nothin'

"Rubens
Has Been Shot!"

Oh Christmas
tree, oh Christmas tree

How bent your branches seem to be

Nineteen twenty-one and all's well

Another fifteen years and we'll be laughing in hell

One bullet straight through the heart

Rubens caught a ricochet, Durer's lady cried today

Cracked old masters up against the wall



Blue-faced Wendy Woolworth--she's seen it all

Housepainter, housepainter

Hanging your swastika wallpaper

Rows of pretty cabbageheads to gobble up your words

Laughing along to your blah, blah, blah

"Rappaport's
Testament: I Never Gave Up"

[Chorus]

And if you survive me

I Never gave up

Tell them this

I Never gave up

And if you survive me

I Never gave up

Tell them this

Almost as if I were planning ahead

I drank, I ate, I made love

I learnt to snatch whatever I could

I never asked for pity and I never gave up



[Repeat chorus]



Twenty months I kept accounts



And in the end they'll balance out

Sometimes I vomit happy memories

Sometimes I laugh out loud just to crack my face



[Repeat chorus]



And if I meet Hitler in the other place

I'll spit this precious soup in his face

And all my accounts will be settled, you see

'Cause Hitler never ever got the better of me



[Repeat chorus]



I never gave up, I never gave up

I crawled in the mud but I never gave up



[Repeat]

"Slap!"

One, two, three,
four

Slap

Fleet Street fell in love

But the girl proved hard to get

Took a seat at the old boy's club

But wouldn't share the bed

Cuppas for the troops

Bubbly-gum and wire

Trojan horses, Black & Tans

They're running for their lives

Royals came to call



Mister Paisley save her soul

Heavens here's the naughty girl

Wouldn't say her prayers

Bloody Monday morning

The rat who did the talking

Here's Ginger to the rescue

Take that! And that!

Take that! And that!

"That's
How Grateful We Are"

OK, this one's
called "Whitewash"

When was the very first time you saw Chumbawamba?

In my dreams!

Ha!

Working in a forge, black lungs, burnt skin

Callouses, arched back, hammering, hammering

Stalin watching over us pigeon shit head

We'd spit on the floor at this red bastard god

That's how grateful we are

[Repeat]

Bronze statue, pink marble, built to last

We brought him to his knees in a single night

And the boots that remained I attacked, I attacked

Hammering, hammering, the past is past

That's how grateful we are

[Repeat]

Scrub away, scrub away

And the noise rang out, metal on metal

Pigeons flit, dust settled

Out from the shadows we took to the streets

David chopping at the giant's feet

That's how grateful we are

[Repeat]

OK, we're gonna take it right, right, right, right down, way down

What we need is a break from the old routine

[Repeat]

Can I kick it? Yes you can!

[Repeat]

There ain't no justice, just us

[Repeat]

OK, we've been doing this one quite a few nights running, but I'd like to take
that one. Is that a yes? Which one, then?

Goodbye girl, goodbye girl...

Martin McLaren, Archer, Anais Nin...

Well, basically, Chumbawamba are the sort of metals of the pop world

The old groups, they're not concerned with what there is to be learned

They sell 501s and they think it's funny, turning rebellion into money

Can I kick it?

This songs become a bit irrelevant now, innit, we may as well just go off now.
Couple of yous could just get up and we'll just fuck off. I'm into that man,
you know, 'cause I've got a hot chocolate waiting for me back there. There's,
uh, quite a bit of anti-Criminal Justice Bill sentiment down in front here.
Excellent!

What we need is a break from the old routine

[Repeat]

You still want to come? Too late, too late

We're cut and we're fallen like harvested wheat

But we lived on our feet, at least, at last

And we will live on our feet, at least, at last

That's how grateful we are

[Repeat]

You still want to come? Too late, too late

We're cut and we're fallen like harvested wheat

But we lived on our feet, at least, at last

We will live on our feet, at least, at last

That's how grateful we are

That's how grateful

Ta

Haven't heard this since '91? What was their relationship to CRASS?

Chumbawamba appeared on Bullshit Detector 2, released in 1982, an album compiled by Crass from demos sent to them from unknown artists/bands. It was the 1st (or 2nd?) time they’d been released on vinyl.

They were also massively influenced by them.

Gotta love the guy on the left's soccer ball haircut

Lots of great stuff from them but this is the best.

to be honest I still Love the first one....pictures of starving children sell records.....cuz of the bass & specific song of Unilever......and......'if you really want to feed the poor then you have to eat the rich!'

Eat the Rich!

forgot how good and inspiring this album was, brilliant

Now more than ever!!!! Great band! For me, from their start to their finish, this band could do no wrong. From punk to their danceable pop to their vocal group folkish songs, with this band it was always about CONTENT OVER FORM!!!!! (Some folks never got that.) They always pissed off jerks who want to keep things stagnant and just "business as usual" and (like all real punk and counter culture music) they used their music (which on it's own has plenty of merit) as a delivery system for their anarchist message. And as such they were brilliant! CONTENT OVER FORM!!!!!

Like The Grateful Dead ?

when I was a lad I was in state care in Dublin, Ireland. I can time stamp it to when the eco warriors aka crustys ruled the roost. One of the trainee social workers was a crusty. He gave me a copy of Slap and 28yrs later it still picks me up and turns me into a revolutionary just by listening to it.
@dublinmacker

thats chambawamba (or chumbawanka! ala Oi Polloi or Riot//Clone lol) - music that may inspire revolutionary acts.....plagiarized :)

yantree had a listen to chumbawanka, dey ain't no chumbawamba but it wasn't hard to miss their 1998 desire to set something on fire. I would have been slopping about with fugazi/dead milkmen/tmbg/crass/conflict but none touched, in my humble onion (deliberate use of onion) Chumbawamba for taking a giant bite of the sonicscape that included poetry and poetic justice.
And of course all those he olde English rebel songs, my fave is hanging on the old barbed wire.
thanks for the lovely response. stay cool and for the love of the star stuff we are made of, Bella Ciao! ✊

+yantree Haha Yeah - Chumbawanka , Riot/Clones best track. And Shit by Oi Polloi. Mediocre that one , imho. Everyone's talking bout Nirvanafication then Chumba wanks one out , but I still love them , pre EMI. Wider audience ? Please !

if this works - its a booklet of/about the album 'slap!'
https://issuu.com/yantree1/docs/more_skanz042

is anything that wound up?

Defo a fave of the Chumbawamba albums.....But track listings would be nice....for those of use no blessed to b Chumba fans!!! And ty Yantree XX

ah ok, yeah I just wanted to get the stuff out there without frivolities.....like track listings lol. will look to doing that soon as poss. Thanks Paul! xxxxx

Had a laugh when the Shhhh! posted on youtube was blocked for copyright claims. IP expends humanity.

i have been tempted to post individual songs from original shhhhh - yet guess they would get shut down

Haha , says it all !

This album came out in 1990

I must have listened to this 100 times already.

just not that crap about "get knocked down" that I suppose was pop music so they could make a bit of money for their pensions

That's a different album.

today? haha, and am an elvis fan of irish origin too: great!

So amazing... Like a soundtrack of my everyday life movie. Gives color and taste of the pictures that are passing in front of my eyes. I want to dance!

Yantree keep making videos. Please could you sub to my Bros channel. It is called jojit colambo

shhhhurrrup! Sheanne Colambo lol! i will endevour to keep on making some videos definitely! Sub'd to your Bro's channel just.