Dark Ages

Darlings are you ready for the long winter's fall?
Said the lady in her parlor
Said the butler in the hall

Is there time for another?
Cried the drunkard in his sleep
Not likely
Said the little child. What's done
The Lord can keep

And the vicar stands a-praying
And the television dies
As the white dot flickers and is gone
And no-one stops to cry

[Chorus]
Dark Ages
Shaking the dead
Closed pages
Better not read
Cold rages
Burn in your head

The big jet rumbles over runway miles
That scar the patchwork green
Where slick tycoons and rich buffoons
Have opened up the seam
Of golden nights and champagne flights
Ad-man overkill
And in the haze
Consumer crazed
We take the sugar pill

[Chorus]

Jagged fires mark the picket lines
The politicians weep
And mealy-mouthed
Down corridors of power on tip-toe creep
Come and see bureaucracy
Make its final heave
And let the new disorder through
While senses take their leave

[Chorus]

Families screaming line the streets
And put the windows through
In corner shops
Where keepers kept
The country's life-blood blue
Take their pick
And try the trick
With loaves and fishes shared
And the vicar shouts
As the lights go out
And no-one really cares

[Chorus]

Darlings are you ready for the long winter's fall?
Said the lady in her parlor
Said the butler in the hall

[Chorus]