Take Down the Union Jack - Billy Bragg

Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset

And put it in the attic with the emperors old clothes

When did it fall apart?

Sometime in the 80s

When the Great and the Good gave way to the greedy and the mean

Britain isn’t cool you know, its really not that great

It’s not a proper country, it doesn’t even have a patron saint

It’s just an economic union that’s passed its sell-by date

Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset

And ask our Scottish neighbours if independence looks any good

‘Cos they just might understand how to take an abstract notion

Of personal identity and turn it into nationhood

Is this the 19th century that I’m watching on tv?

The dear old Queen of England handing out those MBEs

Member of the British Empire — that doesn’t sound too good to me

Gilbert and George are taking the piss aren’t they?

Gilbert and George are taking the piss

What could be more British than here’s a picture of my bum?

Gilbert and George are taking the piss

Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset

And pile all those history books, but don’t throw them away

They just might have some clues about what it really means

To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in england.co.uk

To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in england.co.uk