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Don't Follow Leaders

by Steve Graham

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about

From the collection of demo recordings "The Unwanted Struggle".
Written and recorded in 1987, to reflect my interest at the time in anarchist theory and ideas. I subsequently dismissed it as youthful naivety, but now I'm having second thoughts...
Steve Graham, April 2020, Bristol, England.

lyrics

A land called Nowhere has gathered strength
and is willing to go to any lengths;
its Leaders say “we’ll make you great”
and the people want it, so they learn to hate...
...and they take the world and die, but that’s okay in the Leaders’ scheme...
...the power and the glory for themselves is the Leaders’ dream...

You are working from day to day,
giving up your whole life for so little pay.
The politician screams “please vote for me,
only I can lead you from this misery...”
...but when the factory closes all their faces are nowhere to be seen...
...in case you snatch the power and the glory from out of their dream...

The Communist vision has shades of truth,
because the world of finance never gives enough;
but please beware of any woman or man
who say they’ll lead you with a Five Year Plan;
...because those five years will turn into a lifetime that you can’t redeem...
...and they’ll swear that they are rich and you are poor...in the name of some dream...

So come together, let’s see what we need,
don't be party to anybody’s greed.
Don’t follow Leaders, don’t take commands,
it's our own lives, in our own hands...
...because history has shown it to be so, yes it always seems...
...that power brings corruption and the end of everybody’s dream...
...Don’t follow Leaders...

credits

released September 9, 1987
Ronnie Burke: drums
Chris Taylor: mandolin
Vicky: trumpet
Michelle: backing vocals

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Steve Graham Bristol, UK

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