Clash - Something About England lyrics

They say the immigrants steal the hubcaps of respected gentlemenThey say it would be wine and roses if England were for Englishmen againI saw a dirty overcoat at the foot of the pillar of the roadPropped inside was an old man whom time could not erodeThe night was snapped by sirensThose blue lights circled pastThe dancehall called for an ambulanceThe bars all closed up fastMy silence gazing at the ceiling while roaming the single roomI thought the old man could help me if he could explain the gloomYou really think it's all new?You really think about it too?The old man scoffed as he spoke to me, I'll tell you a thing or twoI missed the fourteen-eighteen war but not the sorrow afterwardsWith my father dead, my mother ran off, my brothers took the pay of hoodsThe twenties turned, the north was deadThe hunger strike came marching southAt the garden party not a word was saidThe ladies lifted cake to their mouthsThe next war began and my ship sailed with battle orders writ in redIn five long years of bullets and shells, we left ten million deadThe few returned to old PiccadilyWe limped around Leicester SquareThe world was busy rebuilding itselfThe architects could not careBut how could we know, when I was young, all the changes that were to come?All the photos in the wallets on the battlefield and now the terror of the scientific SunThere was masters and servants and servants and dogsThey taught you how to touch your capThrough strikes and famine and war and peace, England never closed this gapSo leave me now the Moon is up but remember all the tales I tellThe memories that you have dredged up are on letters forwarded from hellIts a long wat to TipperaryIts a long wat to goGoodbye, PiccadillyFarewell, Leicester SquareThe streets were now desertedThe gangs had trudged off homeThe lights clicked out in the bedsits and old England was all alone