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Rating: On these pages, everything is discussed, but nobody gives a damn about Oi! You might say: elementary music, trivial, vulgar and rough. And so what? Haven't you perhaps reviewed the nonsense published by Ilona Staller and Pupo? So, without knowing how to read or write, allow me to talk about this group.
It's a primordial form of Oi! that characterizes Sham 69, still bastardized with the punk of the bourgeois kids who hung out (and still hang out) in Art Institutes, kept by their dear, wealthy parents. Young London proletarians, Sham, full of rage and dreams. Young people who wanted to kick the fake rebels of the middle class, from whom they nonetheless drew inspiration.
Everyone says that Sham 69 was a "Skinhead" group. It's not true. Their style includes reminiscences of the mod (or hard mod) look and the "herbert" look. However, they were praised and revered by the entire skin movement (whether it be right, left, or apolitical).
English lads, football and beer lovers, zero intellectual pretenses and a great desire for rebellion in punk rock style. Sham 69's anthems spoke of everyday reality and social issues. However, having not taken a clear and militant political position, they were indeed elected "idols" by the neo-fascist right. The group dissolved and reunited several times, due to the continuous brawls caused by the National Front militants at their concerts.
To put an end to this cumbersome and annoying presence (partly generated by some ambiguous statements by Pursey), the band decided to embrace the anti-racism cause and write an universalist anthem: "If The Kids Are United". But here we are getting a bit too far ahead.
In 1978 they released the second: "That's Life". It's life.
And life is a bad rock 'n' roll, that hurts, born from the instrumentation of kids with few pennies in their pockets (yet produced, no less, by John Cale). But, despite the apparent banality, "That's Life" is hard to forget.
The initial screams of "Leave Me Alone" hit us in the face, after about fifty seconds, with all their fury. "Who Give A Damn" is telling both in title and in music. Beautiful, or rather: engaging, are also "Hurry Up Harry", with its infectious chorus, the epic "Angels With Dirty Faces", and "Sunday Morning Nightmare".
Who lived through that season beyond names like Pistols and Clash?
Tracklist and Lyrics
04 That's Life ()
Morons all around me
Not one of them can tell me
What I should say or do
I don't know where I'm going
But I gotta get there soon
I say you've gotta help me
But they don't wanna know me
I don't know what to do
My mum's gonna go cranky
And me dad'll beat me black and blue
They're saying that's life
But I'm taking the blame
They're saying that's life
But I'm taking the blame
When I go to football I get into trouble
Everywhere's the same
And when I go to work
I'm in trouble again
They're saying that's life
But I'm taking the blame
They're saying that's life
But I'm taking the blame
Kid's are fighting kid's
And no one gives a damn
We're eating a clockwork orange
But I'm spitting out the pips
They're saying that's life
But I'm taking the blame
They're saying that's life
But I'm taking the blame
06 Hurry Up Harry ()
Come on come on
Hurry up Harry come on
Come on come on
Hurry up Harry come on
We're going down the pub
We're going down the pub
Now listen here Harry
If we're going down the pub
You'd better tell your mum and dad
And finish up your grub
I wish you'd listen to me
No, I don't want a cup of tea
Come on come on
Hurry up Harry come on
Come on come on
Hurry up Harry come on
We're going down the pub
We're going down the pub
You're telling me to grow up
But Harry don't you see
If I tried to act my age
I wouldn't be me
We never do anything
So now's the time to begin
Come on come on
Hurry up Harry come on
Come on come on
Hurry up Harry come on
We're going down the pub
We're going down the pub
You don't have to tell me
That the thing's I do are wrong
But everything I do in life
Is with us right or wrong
Now I think I understand
How to have some fun
Come on come on
Hurry up Harry come on
Come on come on
Hurry up Harry come on
We're going down the pub
We're going down the pub
09 Sunday Morning Nightmare ()
Me dad don't want me coming home late from the disco
And me mum doesn't want me hanging around with the lads
Me brother thinks he looks like John Travolta
And me sister thinks she's Olivia Newton John
It's a Sunday morning nightmare
A Sunday morning nightmare
A Sunday morning nightmare
I've been drinking too many pints of lager
I've been getting into to many bleedin' fights
I came home with sick all down me trousers
I've got lovebites all around me neck
I've got a Sunday morning nightmare
A Sunday morning nightmare
A Sunday morning nightmare
Don't do it, they won't let us do it
Don't do it, they won't let us do it
Don't do it, they won't let us do it
Don't do it, they won't let us do it
I've got a Sunday morning nightmare
A Sunday morning nightmare
A Sunday morning nightmare
Don't tell me dad I've just smashed up his car
And don't tell me mum I've got me bird in the club
Tell my brother not to wear my clothes
And tell me sister to get her boyfriend outta me bed
I've got a Sunday morning nightmare
A Sunday morning nightmare
A Sunday morning nightmare
Don't do it, they won't let us do it
Don't do it, they won't let us do it
Don't do it, they won't let us do it
Don't do it, they won't let us do it
11 Angels With Dirty Faces ()
Who's got a dirty face then
Angels with dirty faces
Angels from nowhere places
Kids like me and you
Running fighting down the street
Ain't got no money but I don't cry
We're the people you don't wanna know
We come from places you don't wanna go
Angels with dirty faces
Angels from nowhere places
Kids like me and you
I'm never sad but sometimes lonely
Doing things someones told me
We're the people you don't wanna know
We come from places you don't wanna go
Angels with dirty faces
Angels from nowhere places
Kids like me and you
Angels with dirty faces
Angels from nowhere places
Kids like me and you
I'm a rebel stuck with a label
Trying to be someone in life
We're the people you don't wanna know
We come from places you don't wanna go
Angels with dirty faces
Angels from nowhere places
Kid's like me and you
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