Lyrics

Don’t shout “revolution” in my ear
It is an ugly, unforgiving term
Beyond which all illusions, all illusions disappear
And cities starve to death, and towns burn

Don’t question peace if you have not seen war
With its perfume of stale shit and terror
If you have never had, have never had to kill before
Don't go around playing Robespierre

Tanks will not stop for roses and songs
They have no tires and your thorns won’t take
Whatever else you do, don’t take, don't take, don't take too long
To calculate the price of your mistake

It’s fellow students trampled in protests
It’s bloated corpses littering the street
The endless lottery of the arrests
And prison camps – like temples to concrete

It’s gutted churches, it’s typhoid swells
It’s unexploded ordnance in the ground
It’s fields that won’t produce, that won't produce, it’s poisoned wells
And no one – who’s not afraid – around

Don’t shout “revolution”, ”revolution” in my ear
It is an ugly, unforgiving term
Beyond which all illusions, all illusions disappear
And cities starve to death, and towns burn