Happenstance of Birth Track

Cassette (2024)

In the back streets of Northampton
Stops a limousine
Cue Jenny from the shadows
Makes her entrance in the scene
A window opens just a little
Jenny peers inside
A conversation out of earshot
The door then opens wide

Precious Jenny, lovely Jenny
Barely eighteen years old
Spends her evenings on the streets
Half naked in the cold
She hears a voice say in the half-light
“Shall we get started, my dear?”
A man who makes in idle minutes
More than Jenny earns all year

The road is straight, the path is true
The rules are there for all to read
The shirkers shuffle and slowly ramble
Hard workers build up speed
For every man and every woman
Will surely get what they are worth
Wealth is just hard work rewarded
Not a happenstance of birth

Among the shop fronts of Northampton
Simon sleeps outside
A ragged bundle wrapped in cardboard
Alone and terrified
Simon deep in drunken slumbers
Barely able to recall
The precious faces of his children
Are now lost to alcohol

The fascist thugs step out at night
To induct the new recruits
To play with knives and brass knuckles
And steel toe capped boots
A rough sleeper in a doorway
Oh they have their prey in sight
A flash of steel, then fists and boots
And it’s over for tonight

The road is straight the path is true
The rules are there to be read
The lazy loiter, listless laggards
Hard workers get ahead
For every man and every woman
Will surely get what they are worth
Wealth is just hard work rewarded
Not a happenstance of birth

In a school in Northampton
Little Billy starts his day
But he’s too cold and tired and hungry
To hear anything the teachers say
But at least the school is warm and dry
And he’ll get a hot meal later on
He feels safe just for the moment
Untill the school bell sends him home

Precious Billy, Simon, Jenny
Oh you never stood a chance
The game was over before it started
The winners chosen in advance
The game is rigged, the cards are marked
And the greatest lie on Earth
Is that wealth is just hard work rewarded
Not a happenstance of birth