Country Life Video

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"I'll cut you a slice of country life"

Country Life
(Steve Knightley)

"Working in the rain cutting up wood
Never did my little brother much good
Lost two fingers in a chainsaw bite
All he does now is drink and fight
Sells a bit of grass, hots up cars
Talks of travel, never gets far
Loves his kids, left his wife
An everyday story of country life
 
And the red brick cottage where I was born
Is the empty shell of a holiday home
Most of the year there's no-one there
The village is dead and they don't care
Now we live on the edge of town
Haven't been back since the pub closed down
One man's family pays the price
For another man's vision of country life
 
My old man is eighty four
His generation won the war
He left the farm forever when
They only kept on one in ten
Landed gentry, county snobs
Where were you when they lost their jobs
No-one marched or subsidised
To save a country way of life
 
Silent fields, empty lanes
Drifting smoke, distant flames
Picture postcard hills on fire
Cattle burning in funeral pyres
Out to graze they look so sweet
We hate the blood, we want the meat
Buy me a beer, I'll take my knife
Cut you a slice of country life
 
If you want cheap food, well here's the deal
Family farms are brought to heel
Hammer blows of size and scale
Foot and mouth the final nail
The coffin of our English dream
Lies out on the village green
Where Agribarons *CAP in hand
Strip this green and pleasant land
Of meadow, woodland, hedgerow, pond
What remains gets built upon
 
No trains, no jobs
No shops, no pubs
 
What went wrong?
Country life
It's a little bit of country life."

*CAP refers to the Common Agricultural Policy

Steve Knightley- vocals, mandocello, bass
Phil Beer - vocals, fiddle, slide guitar
Matt Clifford – keyboards
Paul Wilson – melodeon
Roy Martin – drums
Brian Dickenson - harmonica

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