Working In The Dark

It's been a pretty grey and wretched day in this humble little corner of the world once again. Puts me in mind of being a kid, experiencing the emotional comedown you'd always get in January after the excitement of Christmas and New Year; when there were no bright lights, no snow, no happy music and no prospect of presents to look forward to, the winter just became a dark, horrible, incredibly rainy place. (Obviously, this was before I learnt that I could fortify myself against such disappointment by being a miserable bastard all twelve months of the year).

Blipwise, pretty much everything I took today was a bit average, with the light outside being poor/non-existent. So I decided to use the fascinating landscape of Wheatfield Street as another fallback shot, having previously documented its sunset state, and frosty coolness. It's all a bit topsy-turvy in terms of colour, and therefore well-suited to my favourite King Blues song; the one that asks, what if punk never happened?

Well on a cold Tuesday morning, I was walking into town,
Had my headphones blaring, didn't notice what was around,
I crossed the road, a car swerved and nearly ran me down,
I looked in the driver's seat; I swear to God it was Doc Brown.
He said, "Are you Michael J Fox?" I said, "No, I'm Jonny Fox",
He said, "Close enough, you best get inside,
I'm taking you with me to see another time,
A place you could only have dreamed in your mind;
It's an alternative reality situated just outside of Clapham,
So strap yourself in,
Cos where we're going you don't need roads,
To get to where punk never happened..."

We landed in a concrete desert, rubble as far as the eye could see
I says to Doc, "Where we goin'?", Doc says he's following me
We found the only building in the city that was left standing,
It was my local venue, I know cos I recognised the landing,
And there's a gig on tonight! This town ain't so bad,
I got everything I need right here in this pad,
So I pulled out a bottle and took a heroic swig,
Made myself comfortable and got ready for the gig.

Well, an hour after doors and there was still no-one there
The soundman was on acid, the fucking long-hair,
The bands never showed cos they didn't see the point
When all the kids are at home still smoking a joint,
They won't go out and do nothing, not on your nelly,
They're just watching the telly and then feeding their belly,
Their parents listen to The Beatles, while they listen to Nirvana
Cos Green Day and The Pistols, well they never heard either,

They got long sleeve T-shirts, they never shower,
They still believe in flower power,
The hippy dream's faded but they got nothing new,
So they wear flares and slippers and burn incense sticks too,
The kids would rather skate than go out and smash the state,
While their parents sit still and meditate
Action's at a low when people just don't care,
They zoned out to their surroundings, man, the anger's not there

And I'm stuck in this hippy-grunge reality
Where the buildings are crumbling from apathy,
They grab you at school when you've just turned 13,
And show you your brand new life-long routine,
You can sleep and work, and work and sleep,
So you can save up the money to buy a new jeep,
So you can sleep and work, and work and sleep,
Then sleep. Then work. Then work. Then sleep.

I pulled a fanzine out my back pocket, held it in my hands,
And watched the colours slowly fade away
The words bled right off of the pages till it had nothing left to say,
I banged on the jukebox but it was useless,
It had no good records on
Not even something weak like The Best Punk Album In The World Ever Volume One
Outside the windows, I saw the excavators coming to tear the place down
No-one stopped them, cos there is no community left in this town
There's no-one around to fight Margaret Thatcher
The power of the flower just couldn't match her

Too strong was the will of Parliament to cause damage,
That with no punk rock everything went unchallenged
Land got knocked down to build more land,
That got knocked down again for a couple more grand
With no punk all the protests were full of throwbacks calling each other "comrade",
Of course the young folks' attendance started to fade,
So it was easy for the police to move in, they were trusted,
And that's when the whole damn town got busted,
They moved CCTV cameras in everywhere,
But the people were too apathetic to care,
They made them carry ID cards to state where they're from,
As if by being born they had done something wrong,
They shipped all the poor folk to live out in the edges,
So the rich folk could move in and peer over their hedges,
"But before you leave, you'd better build our homes,
There, we've done you a favour, now you're on your own.
This ain't your home no more, go find somewhere new,
I know you ain't got no money, cos it's me who employs you;
I know everything about you, what you eat, how you dress,
Your hobbies, your turn-ons and your email address
While I had you working in the dark, you didn't realise
That I completely stopped your ability to organise
I didn't let you have a reason to communicate
I banned punk rock knowing you hippies would seal your own fate
I controlled everything you wrote, everything you created,
I distracted you with advertisements so you forgot what you hated
I fed your dark side, kept you consuming and competing,
And like a dog that doesn't know when to stop eating,
You took it all, oh and long was it my intention,
You could have beat me if punk rock was your invention",
Instead the city will be sold to the highest bids,
If only Sham 69 had've united the kids...

If only the 4-Skins had told us ACAB,
If only The Ramones had let us know we were a happy family,
If only The Buzzcocks had shown us how to do it ourself,
If only Crass had shown us there are things more important than wealth,
If only The Vandals had shown us it was okay to smile,
If only The Dead Kennedys had helped us put our government on trial,
If only Rancid had played live, and brought with them that vibe,
If we had Sick Of It All and Madball we could put them all on the frontline,

If we had GG Allin we'd have learned it's okay to be hated,
If we'd have had The Refused then we could have innovated,
If we'd had Poison Idea then they couldn't push us over,
If we'd had Minor Threat then we could have done it sober,
If we'd have had Against Me we could have done it all unplugged,
If we'd had Operation Ivy we could have done it then fucked off,
If we had The Blitz, The Clash, Disorder, Propagandhi,
The Exploited, NOFX and anyone that's handy,

There's a lesson to be learned, one that I will take home
When I return to my normal reality zone
Punk rock has the power to change the world,
It lies in every single punk rock boy and girl
So don't let anyone tell you you're not worth the earth
These streets are your streets, this earth is your turf,
Don't let anyone tell you that you've got to give in
Cos you can make a difference, you can change everything
Just let your dreams be your pilot, your imagination your fuel,
Tear up the book and write your own damn rules
Use all that heart, hope and soul that you've got,
And the love and the rage that you feel in your gut,
And realise that the other world that you're always looking for
Lies right here in front of us, just outside this door
And it's up to you to go out there and paint the canvas
After all, you were put on the earth to do this
So shine your light so bright that all can see
Take pride and be whoever the fuck you want to be
Throw your fist in the air in solidarity
And shout VIVA LA PUNK, JUST ONE LIFE, ANARCHY