Empire

[Verse 1] He sits around all day watching videos of blokes hitting each other on the internet He likes it So he presses a button on his phone It's a little heart It’s acknowledgement It makes him feel good, and that's fine, so it should He's my mate, that’s great He changes the picture in his profile every now and then Queen's birthday, come on England No fuss, no problem He acknowledges applause for politicians on doorsteps for kicking other people off othеr peoples doorsteps, and I wincе He applauds He red raw applauds He says we are the Empire And God will save us all [Refrain] In the Empire [Verse 2] And you're rubber necking wreckage by the roadside Beeps and swearing Silence the sirens Get a fucking move on, things to fucking do Got my work to get to, so fuck you and fuck them too And you're working out who done what Then they scrape 'em up and the traffic flows, the feeling goes Weeks later there's roadside flowers, and your gut takes a hit Until a fucking little shit cuts you up at the roundabout, makes you late for work by a little bit And you shout And you shout And I shout I shout I shout because it's all I've got left I shout because I’m tired of this shit This lack of compassion Governmental hypocrite Their actions need a reaction and for me this is it [Refrain] In the Empire Empire [Verse 3] We live on an island full of poppies and crosses Union Jack carrots Flagpoles in the sand Rewritten history, industrial wastelands The pub’s back open so no one cares As the camera pans to billionaires, high fiving in the crowd, loud and proud The streets are decorated like VE fucking Day But migrant kids are too scared to go out and play, and I stand back and watch everyone else fight Just remember my former imperial might God save the fucking Queen and hold my pint [Refrain] In the Empire Empire Empire [Verse 4] But we didn't level up, we levelled through Still the rich get richer, so you’re fucked again too And a new hope, a new haircut, a new fuck all Won't tear down imagined blue or red walls Because we are the Empire Either death throes or a swan song But where, but where, but where did it go wrong? So blame the young, blame the old Blame foreigners, equality, decency, Labour, blame Tories, blame monarchy, blame history, the lot Just start by saying you're sorry for every fucking thing you've got [Refrain] In the Empire Empire Empire