Once We Were Anarchists Lyrics

by Frank Turner

The demonstrations got boring –
Well it was obvious that the government was ignoring us.
It's hard to drag yourself through empty streets
On an empty stomach and no sleep.
The shortcomings got clearer,
As the price we paid got dearer and dearer.
It's supposed to be a case of give and take –
Well I was feeling the give and making a mistake.

[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricenter.com/e41907-frank_turner~once_we_were_anarchists_lyrics.html ]
And I've heard it said that the unexamined life
Isn't much worth living, and I'm sure they're right.
But it's hard to keep on fighting the good fight
When no one else seems bothered, yeah,
When no one's on your side.

I've got friends who are bankers,
And it's an easy rhyme to call them wankers,
But I must say I envy the way that they live
In a style that's all take and no give,
While I'm playing the Lone Ranger,
Riding to the rescue of six billion strangers,
Armed with only unoriginal songs
And a sense that something's wrong.

And I must admit that I'm tired of saying “no” all the time.
But I must admit that I don't really know what would be right.
And if politics is helping all the people then my political career is pretty fucked,
Because the truth is I don't like people all that much.

The times they aren't a-changing –
Yeah, England's still shit and it's still raining,
And everybody's jaded and tired and bored
And no one lifts a finger because
It's just not in our culture.
Our culture is carrion and we're all vultures,
And no one seems bothered by this state of play –
It seems that the stench is with us to stay.

So I had a go, I tried examining life.
It wasn't much worth living – I guess they're right.
And I'm tired of fighting a fight that's not my fight.
But so is everybody else – we're all on the same side.

I'm young enough to be all pissed off
But I'm old enough to be jaded.
I'm of the age where I want things to change
But with age my hopes have faded.
I'm young and bored of being young and bored –
If I was old I could say I'd seen it all before.
In short, I'm tired, and in short I'm probably fired.
If the revolution doesn't want me I don't give a shit.