Legal Illegal

​Every time you pick up a newspaper
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​Every time you turn on the TV
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​You can bet your old boots that at some point you'll see
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​A high ranking copper or else an MP
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​Calling on all who are British and free
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​To stand up and defend law and order
​It's illegal to rip off a payroll
​It's illegal to hold up a train
​But it's legal to rip off a million or two
​That comes from the labour that other folks do
​To plunder the many on behalf of the few
​Is a thing that is perfectly legal
​It's illegal to kill off a landlord
​Or to trespass upon his estate
​But to charge a high rent for a slum is OK
​To condemn 2 adults and 3 children to stay
​In a hovel that's rotten with damp and decay
​Is a thing that is perfectly legal
​If your job turns you into a zombie
​Then it's legal to feel some despair
​But don't be aggressive that is if you're smart
​And for Christ's sake don't upset the old apple cart
​Remember the boss has your interests at heart
​And it grieves him to see you unhappy
​If you fashion a bomb in your kitchen
​You're guilty of breaking the law
​But a bloody great nuclear plant is OK
​Though plutonium processing hastens the day
​When this tiny little isle may be blasted away
​Nonetheless it is perfectly legal
​It's illegal if you are a Gypsy
​To camp by the side of the road
​But it's proper and right for the rich and the great
​To live in a mansion or own an estate
​That was got from the people by pillage and rape
​That's what they call a tradition
​It's illegal to carve up your missus
​Or put poison in your old man's tea
​But poison the rivers, the seas and the skies
​And poison the mind of a nation with lies
​If it's done in the interest of free enterprise
​Then it's proper and perfectly legal
​It's legal to join a trade union
​And to picket is one of your rights
​But don't be offensive when scabs cross the line
​Be nice to the coppers and keep this in mind
​To picket effectively that is a crime
​Worse than if you had murdered your mother
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​It's legal to sing on the telly
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​But they make bloody sure that you don't
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​If you sing about racists and fascists and creeps
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​And thieves in high places that live off the weak
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​And those who are selling us right up the creek
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​The twisters, the takers, the conmen, the fakers
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​The whole bloody gang of exploiters!