The Great British Mistake (written 2/78)


The Great British Mistake was looking for a way out, was getting
complacent, not noticing the pulse was racing - the mistake was fighting
the change, was staying the same. It couldn't adapt so it couldn't survive,
something had to give, the people take a downhill slide into the gloom,
into the dark recesses of their minds.

I swoop over your city like a bird
I climb the high branches and observe
Into the mouth, into the soul
I cast a shadow that swallows you whole
I sweep, I climb, I suck, I swallow you whole

Bring out the drip-feed, they're losing their world, they're losing their hard
boys and magazine girls, advert illegal, TV as outlaw, motive as spell.
They'll see the books burn, they'll be 451, it's people against things and
not against each other, out of the pre-pack, into the fear, into themselves.
They're the great British mistake - the genie's out the bottle, call in the
magician, they didn't mean to free him, devil behind him, devil in the
mirror, chained to the right hands. They're the great British mistake -
they'll have to come to terms now, they'll take it out somehow, they'll
blame it all on something. The Great British Mistake - when will it be over?
How can they avoid it?

The Adver