Do They Mean Us?

Dance 'round the maypole, rappers and mummers
Stepping in and out of time
Cockneys, Brummies, Tykes and Geordies
Players in this pantomime
From Notting Hill to Tyneside Mela
Marching ghosts of colliery bands
Farmers, markets, high-tech sweatshops
Such a green and pleasant land
In an English country garden
«Clearing the land… ex-urban man»
Puddings made with bread and butter
The lash of the whip and rhyming slang
Speakers corner, Miners' Welfare
Images all juxtaposed
With this patchwork panorama
You have to laugh: «Do they mean us?»
Lager louts and laddish culture
St George’s cross upon your pate
John Bull on Beau Brummel’s waistcoat
Knuckles tattooed «Love and Hate»
Schizophrenic, new age, new man
Bite your lip, don’t make a fuss
The malaise of this English patient
You have to ask: «Do they mean us?»
«Oop north» where they bathe in gravy
Saris seen on cobbled streets
Down south it’s a top coat warmer
«Kiss me quick» on Margate beech
English blood runs mild and bitter
Adam’s ale or council pop
Refugees, asylum seekers
Multi-racial melting pot
Such inherent contradictions
A crisis of identity
Are the smiles all disingenuous?
Quote English eccentricity
From Land’s End up to Kielder Water
All make-believe and just-suppose
Given the whole «Sink and Puddle»
In the end: «Do they mean us?»