Round here, these cannibal kids want to be kings But there ain't no royalty left 'Cause round here the sirens and screams float on the wind and even the street shudders afraid of our footsteps
'Round here, these cannibal kids want to be kings But there ain't no royalty left 'Cause round here the sirens and screams float on the wind and even the street shudders yes even the street shudders
'Round here, these cannibal kids want to be kings They don't know that kindness is courage Or that sympathy sings much louder than violence They are bitter and drained. Eyes of ice stare from figures of flames
They, puff chested, restless, nameless, they carry their pains To the point ob being painless; these numb ones, young ones The new latchkeys of London just soaking up that humdrum That makes them want to run from the state they're in
Powerless, penniless, feathers clipped They find eagle's wings in the derelict brotherhood of gang life That bang bang life that shouts louder than a sarcastic teacher clapping hands twice And staring down a frightened nose
See, they learned that respect comes from striking a pose that demands it But I know respect and fear are not compatible But they's a long way from bat and ball They don't play they let daggers fall
From blood-soaked fingers while their siblings lie bleeding in hallways dead. But like wisdom has always said, blood begets blood And keeps spilling so the pavements are stained and our hearts are grief-stricken. 'Cause 'round here, these cannibal kids want to be kings. But there ain't no royalty left
No, 'cause round here the sirens and screams float on the wind and even the street shudders yes even the street shudders While that paranoid panic that goes seeping through the granite of the breeze blocks Is turning our cities into sheep flocks
See me have pity those whose knees knock The victims of the media machine, them poor souls who've forgotten how to dream See, see that cut-throat mentality, that gets encourages in business They tell you, to be a success you gotta step on some necks
So big money is made through that ruthless pursuit and while they [?] Their jaded kids [?]
Now we were born into these blood-soaked cities of industry Informed of the savagery, the infamy, barbarity of history.
Controlled and contrived and depressed and tested and stressed out and vexed It's a message we've been fed so we could propagate their system of division, inhibition, viciousness and contradiction We were suckled on the milk that they soured Told the future was ours and them disembowelled and dis-empowered
We've been disgraced, deafened and deflowered Our brains brutalised and all the fires devoured So now they're shooting guns and robbing cash and trying to claw it all back But when the whole thing shatters it always starts with a little crack
And them splinters, they stretch out for miles Pointing fingers at smart dressed men with wry crocodile smiles But still we get the blame Told that life is all exchange told that we are the children of capital
That we are the children of apathy, that we the children of this rapidly changing reality But I say, we learn it from them, from their rules and their ways For their legitimate businesses deceive, and disgrace While us, we do what we can because we live in this place Where the truth can't be seen in the face.