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