Lyrics

 

BATA BOY

Composer: Chris Watkins-Pitchford

Lyrics: Siggi Mwasote

 

A good friend once told me
That just because he loves to
Love another man’s body
There are those upon this earth
That want to bring him down, bring him down
Africa, Asia, Europe too
Think that they have a right to
Tell him how to live his life
All this trouble, all this strife
Just because he don’t want a wife

 

We will not stand for this
We will say “yes” no more

 

Little girls with all to live for
Are cut until they bleed no more
Their screaming can be heard for miles
All in the name of beauty
All in the name of culture
Is this what we call civilised?

 

We will not stand for this
We will say “yes” no more

 

RICE & PEACE

Composer: Claire Wootton

Lyrics: Siggi Mwasote

 

Living life on time that’s borrowed
Trying to move but the end is in sight
Pushing forward being pulled back
When all you wanna do is relax
You’re gonna (trying to) do it all alone
It’s not what you signed up for
Feeling the pressure, feeling pressured
When all you wanna do is pick up the phone

 

All those children
All those mothers
Struggling to do right by their young
All they need is a helping hand
Instead they have to take a stand
Fighting for their rights, their lives and their peace
Fighting for the food that they need to eat

 

All those children

All those mothers

 

SO SUE US

Composer: Cicely Rose Taylor

 

X-Factor Man, you don’t understand
Let me spell it out to you, it’s not about the brand
It’s music, not money, got us under its command
Still you spend all your time building castles out of sand

 

Mr Big Cowboy, we ain’t your cattle to herd
We’re proper musicians, you’re just a business nerd
You’re a parasite on the back of the poor musician
HUH! – you’re rotten to the core

 

CHORUS:
So sue us, HUH! Go ahead and sue,
Your greed and aggression will come back to you,
So sue us, HUH! Go ahead and sue,
You think you’ve got a lasso but you tied your own noose,
So sue us, HUH! Go ahead and sue,
Your f***ed up sense of power will screw you right through
So sue us, HUH! Go ahead and sue,
We’re not your nest egg and we just flew the roost

 

You don’t understand about creativity
Think it’s something you can own, turn it into money
Music is our life and philosophy
We get paid in soul food, you get a management fee

 

So why do you wanna sue, lock us up, throw away the key?
You say you love music but it’s just hypocrisy
Mr Parasite, it’s difficult to see
How you sleep at night with this insanity

 

CHORUS

 

We give up our money, our ego and our shame
It’s all about the music, it’s not about the fame
You think you’re Mr Big but you’re just Mr Lame
Throwing your weight around with your f***ed up game

 

CHORUS

 

PIQUE

Composer: Cicely Rose Taylor

 

YANSAN

Composer: Cicely Rose Taylor

Lyrics: Siggi Mwasote

 

This is for all
All those women and those children
That have been belittled and set aside
This is for all
All those families and those fathers
That have been marginalised

 

We will not stand for it
We will not allow it
We will not let this happen
We will not
Oh we will not

 

Oya declare war
Yansan declare war
We say no to degradation and yes to peace

 

CHANGANYA

Composer: Cicely Rose Taylor

 

Changanya, fusión, from roots to electro
Conversation between what we love and what we know
Mescla, the mix, live art form’s a tableau
From Afrique to Caraïbes to the back streets of SoHo

 

Collective memory, the sounds, smells and senses
Multiculti sensory, all our different influences
A childhood of Swahili Gbè Polski Italia Cantonese
But musical vocabulary’s the language of reprise

 

CHORUS:
A relaxing of ego, we grow, develop through it
Roots inform what we do but don’t hold us to it
Inspired by our roots, music our muse
Creative fruits, we are what we choose
We ain’t displaced, we’re in this place
And we’re going somewhere, yes: fresh into the future
We are the past in genes and mind’s eye
But how staid to stay in it how fresh to be free

 

UK melting pot’s no vulture, it’s sound assimilation
Harmonious common culture, a mosaic nation
New generation don’t buy into nationalistic attitude,
Keeping cultures apart from a fear of the new

 

Chico Science, he got it, manguebeat brought a new sound
Fresh thinking bit, fuse the roots with underground
Respect for tradition, yeah, but not above the now
Not held prisoner by the past, won’t bow, don’t know how

 

CHORUS

 

LOSE YOURSELF

Composer: Claire Wootton

Lyrics: Siggi Mwasote

 

Come with me
Let me take you on a journey
Feel with me
Let me lead you through the mystery
Til you know the way
Know that I will stay
Til you give your soul to the music

 

Lose yourself
In the drum that is your heartbeat
Find yourself
In the bass that is your lifeline to freedom
Delve so deep inside
You can no longer hide
When you give your soul
To the music

 

Lifeline to freedom

 

MR SERIOUS

Composer: Cicely Rose Taylor

 

Eh Mr Serious
Why are you standing
With your head against the wall?
Eh Mr Serious
You say we’re dying
And Babylon’s gonna fall

 

You don’t want to see things clearly
You just want to make it bad
You choose not to give love freely
It’s enough to make you mad
Wanna know how to fight your demons?
Give thanks for the luck you had
You’re alive and you’re a free man
And soon you’ll be feeling glad

 

Eh Mr Serious
Why are you standing
With your head against the wall?
Eh Mr Serious
You say we’re dying
And Babylon’s gonna fall

 

I say now,
Jump up with a vibrant feeling
Get up now get out of bed
Open up to life revealing
That you can choose hope instead
Wanna give your life more meaning,
Positive future ahead?
Make a wish and start your dreaming,
Hold it close inside your head

 

You’re alive, Mr Serious

 

 

FEAR GO RUNNING

Composer: Chris Watkins-Pitchford

Lyrics: Cicely Rose Taylor

 

Wake the rhythm in your body, body,
Shake your ass, throw moves to the beat
Step it up, it’s time to study
How the rhythm flows and it’s sounding sweet

 

Fear go go running and it don’t come back x3
Dance like there’s no-one watching, yeah

 

Your head done in by all this daily slog?
Bills and sweat and stress are the devil’s dog
You wanna know how you can be free of this?
Shake your ass with the rhythm in your body
And all will dismiss

 

ULTIMATE ROBOT

Composer: Deen Lim

 

So you’ve come my way
Started good but now it’s just tricky so
More than fair to say
You weren’t the one for me
There’s no time to stay
Woken by a kiss goodbye