Favourite anti-Tory songs

[Fambo Number Mive]

Blue - Is the Colour So Cruel is one I tend to listen to whenever the Tories take one of their regular shits on the public.

"There you go, telling lies, it's no surprise" - how very apt

Most of the anti-Tory songs I know were about Thatcher with a  couple about Major. I can't think of any recent ones to be honest. Captain Ska did one about Nick Clegg but he was a yellow Tory.

Any anti-Tory songs you are particularly fond of?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Can I be the first to mention Hefner's The Day That Thatcher Dies?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu3vwtxYI2k

A Well Respected Man by The Kinks must be the first satirical pop song about a smug, entitled, Tory-voting twat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bQsGiiPVFo

[DukeDeMondo]

"You Thatcherites by name, lend an ear, lend an ear..."

Love it to bits. His more recent "Fight Songs" have some of that snarl left in them, but they sound a bit forced here and there. On record, I mean. Different story live. Different story altogether. But some of the recordings sometimes sound like he's trying to let rip but he doesn't want to wake whoever's in the next room.

No such carry on with "Thatcherites." Full throated.

Oh, also, from the album that "Thatcherites" was left off of: "From Red To Blue" Beautiful and far too relatable.

[purlieu]

Cleaners From Venus - The Jangling Man
Although a bit of an anarchist, Martin Newell definitely aimed this song at the poll tax and late '80s Thatcherite politics. Although I doubt he actually danced there once she'd finally fucked off, I love "When we dream of the feeling / to wake one day and find that you are gone / and will we dance by the graveside? / So glad, so glad, glad that you are gone"
Lyrically it's a fantastic song with so much incredibly imagery. "Wander dimly through the past of the England that you knew / These dispossessed and homeless children, they all belong to you" is just superb.

[kalowski]

Well I hope I don't die too soon
I pray the lord my soul to save
Oh I'll be a good boy, I'm trying so hard to behave
Because there's one thing I know, I'd like to live
Long enough to savor
That's when they finally put you in the ground
I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down

"She's that apostolic hag, she's that apostolic hag, she's that apostolic hag, she's screaming...SCREAMING MAD

[Brundle-Fly]

Sex For The Disabled - Momus (1987)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAxKwHefrfQ


Before the accident you were just a square
And I was a Hell's Angel in leathers and long hair
Before the accident you were a fanatic
And I was a motorbike mechanic

And which of us was stronger then
And which of us was stranger
A woman pumping iron or a liberal Hell's Angel?
Before the accident when my somersaulting Triumph
Entered the gymnasium of the female Goliath

And I don't know if you felt for me
Or if you shared my dreams
But when my speed machine hit your weight machine
I know you heard my screams

And across my leather jacket it says 'Sex for the Disabled'
And across your macho breasts 'Get fit for life'

Before the accident you kept out of sight
Working behind curtains till your body shape was right
The only man you touched was your tutor in karate
I fucked every eligible party

And which of us was crippled then
And which of us more painful?
A woman pumping iron or a liberal Hell's Angel?
Before the accident when I careered akimbo
Through your plate glass window

And as I lay in agony from a thousand savage cuts
You privatised the hospital and you wished me luck

And across my leather jacket it says 'Sex for the Disabled'
And across your macho breasts 'Get fit for life'

Before the accident before '79
Before the wheelchair that was such a difficult time
Every man an anarchist, we were all into 'Zen
And the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' then

And which of us were hawks and which of us were doves?
When you broke off peace talks and we broke off free love
Before the accident when you came to power
And the poor got on their bikes and we got off ours
And the Age of Aquarius changed overnight
To an Age of Economists serving the right
Our Triumphs turned to wheelchairs, don't times change?
Maybe we had nothing to lose but our chains
So now you're the angels, the thugs in authority
And we're just another castrated minority
And across our leather jackets it says 'No Sex for the Disabled'
And across your macho breasts 'Unfit for life'

[RicoMNKN]

Kirsty MacColl's Free World would be my choice.
"I thought of you when they closed down the school and the hospital too"

[jobotic]

I happily remember singing this at a massive CND march in 1982, aged 9. Think it's nicked from a football chant

Build a bonfire
Build a bonfire
Put Thatcher on the top

Put the Tories in the middle
And burn the fucking lot

A posh man said "do you mind? I'm a Conservative, I'm just against nuclear armament".

[mojo filters]

Citizen Fish - Home Economics

Curiously I can't recall any Dick Lucas lyrics that were literally so blatantly anti-Tory, from his large body of work written during Thatcher's time in office.

[jobotic]

Sheep Farming in the Falklands by Crass certainly upset the Tory Party and their press at the time.

Nice reminder of cuddly old Remainer Heseltine's past too.

[hummingofevil]

I like to think the Holy Trinity of Glasgow Thatcher tributes is

Music: https://youtu.be/xbp3k3rYMs4

Comedy: https://youtu.be/xmmomV-ax-s

Visual arts: https://images.app.goo.gl/7m2nTkmJQYP7yBnh7

And if course, this genuinely heartfelt one:

https://youtu.be/2sEX02P64Nc

[studpuppet]

Shipbuilding, Between The Wars, and anything by The Redskins. Telling that they're all early-mid eighties before the council house sell-off, privatisation share issues and the Miners' Strike dulled a lot of working people's senses.

[holyzombiejesus]

Up and down the Strand
I strolled around penniless
But there were pockets to pick
Beneath the hot august sun
When suddenly the sound of singing and laughter arose in the distance
And it drew me towards it
And as I drew closer I could hear the song they sang,
"This is your country too!
Join our procession
That's marching onwards to war"
I could see them
I saw how rich they all were
At the the head of the gang were
top civil servants and captains of industry
With well-manicured hands and greasy smiles enticing the populous
"Come buy our shares!
Who will buy our shares?
For this is your country too!"
A great procession was marching onwards to war
A man on the dole stood cursing them all
He told everyone not to be taken in
But at the orders of one of the marchers policemen
came and beat him to the floor
Along Whitehall these dubious characters stared
Picking up more and more people
MP's, careerists and god's oppressed senators
With the sweetest of smiles they held out piggy banks to little children
But as they took them the stomping stamping feet trampled them underneath
"This is your country too!"
A great procession was marching onwards to war
"Come along buy your council home"
They said to a half-dead mother of ten
"With BUPA on our side we've reason to smile"
They said to a tramp in a pool of alcohol
On and on their maniac laughs
And their marching beat scaring the night

[greenman]

There should be a move to get Blues For Ceausescu to #1 on downloads. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi9n4oP2iyE

[boki]

It's hardly searing political analysis, but I love the stark simplicity of Fuck The Countryside Alliance by Future Of The Left.

[Gurke and Hare]

Onsind - Pokemon City Limits

M J Hibbett & the Validators - The Fight For History

[Phil_A]

Microdisney, "Past"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtFSbyprObk

Your job will go
Your house will go
But they will wave from their video
And the police will be there as well
With a boot or a gun
To cry on

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

The Story of the Blues by Pete Wylie. A magisterially defiant yet hopelessly defeated anti-Thatcher anthem that almost got to number one in 1982.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO5-w3540H8

First they take your pride, turn it all inside
And then you realise you've got nothing left to lose
So you try to stop, try to get back up
And then you realise you're telling the Story of the Blues

[easytarget]

The lyrics are buried and mysterious but Mogwai's George Square Thatcher Death Party is a fucking choon.

[H-O-W-L]

The later half of The Final Cut, tenuously released under the Pink Floyd banner but truly a Roger Waters solo effort, has always been one of my favourite anti-Thatcher joints merely because Roger's sincere, out of character judgement is to wrap up all the right-wing tyrants in the world in an old folks' and gas the cock out of them. He's a cunt (and honestly always has been) but the sheer venom he sings Fletcher Memorial Home with is just fucking magnificent to hear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLllFMF-OkQ

Also contains one of David Gilmour's best guitar solos. Even Roger and Gilmour knew it because neither of them dared fuck with it or its structure despite huge swathes of the album (and Gilmour's guitar work and Mason's drums in particular) being absolutely butchered with a bollock knife.

[H-O-W-L]

Not specifically Tory I suppose but there's a set of lyrics in that album that will haunt me until the day I die even if they're rather base-level 'Are Lads Died In Wouah For This'

And still the dark stain spreads between their shoulder-blades
A mute reminder of the poppy-fields and graves.

Those two fucking lines, man. Final Cut has some of Waters' most powerful prose on it barring Pros and Cons in my opinion. The man's a very patchy artist but when he's mad and a bit more broad than "OI! JEWS! NO!" or "OI! TRUMP! NO!" he can make some powerful and long-lasting works.

[phantom_power]

I think it may have been disputed but that verse about Thatcher on Pigs (Three Different Ones) is pretty brutal

Bus stop rat bag
Ha, ha, charade you are
You fucked up old hag
Ha, ha, charade you are
You radiate cold shafts of broken glass
You're nearly a good laugh
Almost worth a quick grin
You like the feel of steel
You're hot stuff with a hatpin
And good fun with a hand gun
You're nearly a laugh
You're nearly a laugh
But you're really a cry

[H-O-W-L]

I think it may have been disputed but that verse about Thatcher on Pigs (Three Different Ones) is pretty brutal

Bus stop rat bag
Ha, ha, charade you are
You fucked up old hag
Ha, ha, charade you are
You radiate cold shafts of broken glass
You're nearly a good laugh
Almost worth a quick grin
You like the feel of steel
You're hot stuff with a hatpin
And good fun with a hand gun
You're nearly a laugh
You're nearly a laugh
But you're really a cry

It's about Whitehouse in the original cut though it can be used for Thatcher. He's repurposed it for Trump now which I feel undermines it a tad, not because I disagree with calling him porcine but because it sort of degrades the punk-esque home-grown England edge the album has.

[phantom_power]

It's about Whitehouse in the original cut though it can be used for Thatcher. He's repurposed it for Trump now which I feel undermines it a tad, not because I disagree with calling him porcine but because it sort of degrades the punk-esque home-grown England edge the album has.

The third verse is about Whitehouse. I think each verse is about a different person (or pig)

[Absorb the anus burn]

The Land Of Make Believe.... Bucks Fizz.

Come To Milton Keynes.... The Style Council.

[gilbertharding]

I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more...

I want to kill somebody by SMASH is shit, but righteous.

[phantom_power]

Does Cunts Are Still Running The World by Jarvis Cocker count?

[thecuriousorange]

The later half of The Final Cut, tenuously released under the Pink Floyd banner but truly a Roger Waters solo effort, has always been one of my favourite anti-Thatcher joints.

He took over the band to the point where he decided that him leaving meant they didn't exist anymore. I love The Final Cut, even though there's no doubt he would have been bloody difficult to work with during this time.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Does Cunts Are Still Running The World by Jarvis Cocker count?

Oh yes.

[jenna appleseed]

The later half of The Final Cut, tenuously released under the Pink Floyd banner but truly a Roger Waters solo effort, has always been one of my favourite anti-Thatcher joints merely because Roger's sincere, out of character judgement is to wrap up all the right-wing tyrants in the world in an old folks' and gas the cock out of them. He's a cunt (and honestly always has been) but the sheer venom he sings Fletcher Memorial Home with is just fucking magnificent to hear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLllFMF-OkQ

tag: Roger Waters invents CAB meme /tag

eta: not sure if inappropriately laughing at Rog singing about 'gassing the house of cunts'  ruins or improves the song tbh.