The 'Cosh'
Stiff Little Fingers

Everything is turning upside down in this town
The crime rate's rising up as employment swoops down
Kids can't trust their parents to protect them no more
And if you're black or Irish you just can't trust the law

Winos on the corner with no hope and no plan
Kids on 5 quid drug deals waiting for their man
Estates in states of chaos, hatred scrawled on the walls
The men of law and order writhe about on the floor
No-one dream of living, those hopes lie on the rocks
Your newly detached haven is a cardboard box

(Chorus:)
And it seems, and it seems
Someone's used the cosh and the country's on its knees

Old folk freeze to death in flats where damp streams down the walls
Poll tax bailiffs scream unheard in countless council halls
Plans for new development that never cure the mess
Benefits that won't be paid unless you've an address
And no-one dream of living, those hopes lie on the rocks
Your newly detached haven is a cardboard box

(Chorus)

Our Welfare State's collapsing and no-one seems to care
As long as money's being made and profits there to share
Buy into a service that belonged to you and me
Soon you'll find our country is the UK pic

And no-one dream of living, those hopes lie on the rocks
Your newly detached haven is a cardboard box

(Chorus)

Down on its knees, down on its knees
Someone's used the Cosh and the country's down on its knees
Down on its knees, down on its knees


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Lyrics by Stiff Little Fingers

  (I Could Be) Happy Yesterday   78 RPM   78 Rpm [*]   A River Flowing   Achilles' Heart   All I Need   All the Rest   Alternative Ulster   Alternative Ulster [Live]   Alternative Ulster [Live][*]   At The Edge   At The Edge [2002 Digital Remaster]   At the Edge [DVD]   At the Edge [Live]   Baby Blue (What Have They Been Telling You?)   Baby Blue (What Have They Benn Telling You)   Back To Front   Back to Front [*]   Barbed Wire Love   Barbed Wire Love [DVD]   Barbed Wire Love [Live]   Be Seeing You   Be True To Yourself   Beirut Moon   Best of Fools   Big City Night   Bits Of Kids   Bloody Dub   Bloody Sunday   Bloody Sunday [*]   Breakout   Bulletproof   Can't Believe In You   Can't Get Away With That   Closed Groove   Cold   Dead Man Walking   Dead Of Night   Die And Burn   Doesn't Make It All Right   Dust In My Eye   Each Dollar A Bullet   Empty Sky   Falling Down   Fly The Flag   Fly the Flag [Live]   Forensic Evidence   Gate 49   Gate 49 [Live]   Get A Life   Go For It   Good for Nothing   Good for Nothing [*]   Gotta Gettaway   Gotta Gettaway [Live]   Guitar & Drum   Guitar And Drum   Half a Life Away   Harp   Here We Are Nowhere   High & Low   Hits And Misses   Honeyed Words   Hope Street   Human Shield   Hurricane   I Don't Like You   I Waited   I Want You   In Your Hand   Is That What You Fought the War For   Is That What You Fought The War For?   It's A Long Way To Paradise (From Here)   Johhny Was   Johnny 7   Johnny Was   Just Fade Away   Just Fade Away [Live]   Kicking Up A Racket   Last Train From The Waste Land   Last Train From the Wasteland   Law And Order   Listen   Listen [*]   Listen [Unplugged Version]   Love Of The Common People   Mr. Fire Coal Man   My Ever Changing Moral Stance   No Change   No Faith   No Laughing Matter   No More Of That   No Surrender   Nobody's Hero   Nobodys Hero [Live]   Noobody's Hero   Piccadilly Circus   Protect and Serve   Road to Kingdom Come   Roaring Boys (Part One)   Roaring Boys (Part Two)   Roaring Boys, Pt. 2   Roots, Radicals, Rockers And Reggae   Rough Trade   Safe As Houses   Silver Lining   Silver Lining [Unplugged Version]   Smithers Jones [Live]   Smithers-Jones [Live]   Stand Up And Shout   Stands To Reason   State Of Emergency   Still Burning   Straw Dogs   Straw Dogs [*]   Straw Dogs [DVD]   Strummerville   Suspect Device   Suspect Device [Live]   Suspect Device [Single Version][*]   Talkback   Tantalise   The Game Of Life   The Message   The Night That The Wall Came Down   The Only One   The Price Of Admission   The Road To Kingdom Come   Tin Soldier   Tin Soldiers   Tinderbox   Touch and Go   Two Guitars Clash   Two Guitars Clash [*]   Wait And See   Walk Away   Walking Dynamite   Wasted Life   Wasted Life [Acoustic]   Wasted Life [Live]   Wasted Life [Unplugged Version]   Wasted Life [Unplugged Version][*]   Welcome To The Whole Week   What Does It Take   What If I Want More?   When The Stars Fall From The Sky   White Christmas [Live]   White Noise   Who Died and Made You Elvis?   Won't Be Told   You Can Get It (If You Really Want)   You Can Move Mountains   You Can't Say Crap On The Radio   You Don't Believe In Me   You Never Hear The One That Hits You

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