(from “Cut and Run”)


Wet for November as Novembers go
Wind whipping chill past gray apartment towers
My hands are freezing, I can’t feel my toes
The pubs won’t open for another hour
It’s another city, that’s the way it goes
Another job, another scheme to try
There’s grubby fingers pulling at my clothes
Give us a penny for the Guy

Guy Fawkes is dead and no one’s left to grieve
They only gave one version of the plot
Was he the villain they’d have us believe
If I was him I might have had a shot
So he blew his chance and threw his life away
Things haven’t changed much in four hundred years
That leaves the lucky ones alive to pray
Lord, take us away from here
Take us away from here

And sweet the children sing
How sweet the children sing
A penny for the Guy
A penny for the Guy
Some watch the traitor swing
Some watch the traitor swing
A penny for the Guy
A penny for the Guy
At least he had a try
But would he have a try in England now

The little cadgers play their begging games
What kind of story have they taken in
Not just some stupid plot to kill King James
But how’d they con us to this state we’re in
Maybe they’re right to take us all for fools
If we won’t bring it down around their ears
Or haven’t guts enough to change the rules
Lord, take me away from here
Take me away from here

And sweet the children sing
How sweet the children sing
A penny for the Guy
A penny for the Guy
Some watch the traitor swing
Some watch the traitor swing
A penny for the Guy
A penny for the Guy
At least he had a try
But would he have a try in England now

He’s just a traitor cause he blew his chance
He never got a second curtain call
He might have proved a figure of romance
But he never changed a damn thing after all
Now in the city, that’s the way it goes
Another job, another scheme to try
There’s grubby fingers pulling at my clothes
Give us a penny for the Guy