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about

I'm all for the noble idea of running and jumping and so on in friendly competition with one's international neighbours, really I am. But really... from the sponsors to the missiles, from the threats to knitters, to the bulldozing of allotments... yeah, I'll be watching for the inflateable Stonehenge, and that's about it.

lyrics

FIVE GOLD RINGS

Oh what a five-ring circus, roll up, roll up to see
It’s world-wide peace and harmony galore
There’s a new and shiny pool down where the lido used to be
But I can’t afford to swim there anymore.

We love our seaside semi and we like to watch the boats
The public park’s our favourite place to walk
But now they’ve built a wall there hiding anything that floats
We’ve lived here forty years, but money talks
Community means ‘those who buy the tickets’, it appears
Perhaps they’d like to charge us too for listening to the cheers?

Five gold rings: the law forbids I name it.
Five gold rings: the trademark’s nailed down.
Five gold rings: they’ve bought the right to claim it for their own and send their
Circus through our villages and towns.
Who’s pulling on the strings?
‘Cos they’re attached to five gold rings.

My Gramps loved his allotment and it kept him fit and strong
For a hundred years that’s what the land was for
But they bulldozed eighty gardens that had been ours all along
And Grandpa doesn’t plant things anymore
‘Perpetuity’ no longer means forever, so it seems
And Grandpa’s not too active now, but there’s gardens in his dreams:

Five gold rings: the law forbids I name it.
Five gold rings: the trademark’s nailed down.
Five gold rings: they’ve bought the right to claim it for their own and send their
Circus through our villages and towns;
Who’s pulling on the strings?
‘Cos they’re attached to five gold rings.

Fire up the corporate lawyers with the words ‘cease and desist’
Tell knitters that they denigrate the games
Our sponsors’ cash investment needs protection after all
Fizzy drinks, fast food and chocolate bear their names
And let’s have lots of music, and we won’t shell out a bean
They’ll be glad to play for nothing, won’t they? ‘Least it gets them seen!

Five gold rings: the law forbids I name it.
Five gold rings: the trademark’s nailed down.
Five gold rings: they’ve bought the right to claim it for their own and send their
Circus through our villages and towns;
Who’s pulling on the strings?
‘Cos they’re attached to five gold rings.

Oh what a five-ring circus, roll up, roll up to see
The glories of this peace-time nation
You’ll all feel safe and sound thanks to the British military
And our tower block’s a missile station...
Excuse me from this celebration

credits

from FREE ALBUM: Songs of Common Ground, track released July 27, 2012
(c) Talis Kimberley 2012. Talis, in the green room, with the blond ovation and the handheld Tascam.

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Talis Kimberley UK

"I'm a songwriter and singer; my songs are spun from folklore and history, stirred well with a hazel wand and served with cake. I'll sing you ravens and bones and the story behind the story, I'll sing you bread and apples, ghosts and knitting, and bring you home with a pocketful of feathers and hope"

Voice / guitar / English concertina

Festivals, folk clubs, libraries, museums, & protests...
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