Built These Towns on the Crumbs of a Breadline

Some little bastards put a match to the hill

Dry bracken burns until the ash stands still

But the fire in my heart is bigger than the one in my eyes

But we’ve watched these streets rise from demise.

If history repeats itself, oppress the poor, feed the wealth

That’s my understanding, my understanding

They had nothing to lose, when they built these towns on the crumbs of a breadline

They had nothing to lose, when they pulled those bodies from the bottom of a landslide

They had nothing to lose, when they raped this land with no thought for the future

They’ll have nothing to lose, when they ghost these towns and there’s no coming back

Oh there’s no coming back, no more

Hope is sparse like the dawn light through the trees,

Governments throw daggers through the hearts of communities

A life of graft to keep a roof over your head

And to have a hope in your eyes when you tuck your kids into bed

From the mountain tops down to the seas

They’ll take away the industries

Industrial manslaughter is shouted from the stands

Incompetence by men with soft hands

Close those books and the crooks will let it go

But it’s a fight for justice and the truth we already know

Flood the village in the valley, close down the colliery, the slag heaps and the worry

They don’t understand it, don’t understand it