The Myth of the North-South Divide

And close the day to think about something
We dance to the melody of the times
We count out feelings by Big Ben's chimes

For here, no one is poor
All of us are rich
We have all lined up on the same side
We are making money, that could never be denied

The streets down here are paved with gold
Or silver at least
For we are living in the sunny Southeast

You Northerners, Scotsmen and Welsh
You know where your enemy's to be found
In the soft, prosperous south bed South

For here, no one is poor
We all roll in it
We've all lined up on the same side
And we don't mind it's the North that's paying for it

The streets down here are paved with gold
Or silver at least
For we are living in the sunny Southeast

But as we see
The real moneybags are pointing the way up a one-way street
Then if they will then it's work to treat

Oh let's politicize the North-South divide
If it's not a question of class war
We will save ourselves and let us stay poor

notes:

Malcolm:

We recorded this for a BBC radio session. Some people at the time, and perhaps still, accused the greedy south of England of pumping the wealth out of the impoverished north of England. This didn't seem to me a very productive viewpoint.

Big Ben is the nickname of the Great Bell of Westminster, the hour bell of the Great Clock, hanging in the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, the home of the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom. The bell was named "Big Ben" after Sir Benjamin Hall, the Chief Commissioner of Works when it was cast in 1856 (from Wikipedia).

found on: Lie to Me (June 1989 Compilation), That's All Very Well, But...

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