[Verse 1]
From common grief to Bristol up in flames
We came here begging justice and instead we got the blame
For peace disturbed, out on the streets tonight
And watching on the BBC you know something's not right
When mourners come with candles and with flowers
Are wrestled three on one, and pinned down by the state's full powers
This is their world. And these have been the rules
But we have come to break it down with bloody fingernails for tools

[Pre-Chorus]
This threat of violence, this tightrope wire
We can no longer bear it, we are all too fucking tired
No minutes' silence, we will sing higher
Don't tell us to light a candle when we have come to start a fire

[Chorus]
And if I spend my life on the losing side
You can lay me down knowing that I tried
There's a better world and on a quiet day
When I hold my breath I can hear her say
She's on her way
She's on her way

[Verse 2]
Safe at home, you watch it on TV
And never think that one day you could be the enemy
That you might one day be under attack
From all that should protect you, hoping someone has your back
The history books are screaming from the shelves
That no government who outlaws speaking to defend ourselves
Has good things planned. A storm ahead I see
And not one of us will bear it without solidarity
[Pre-Chorus]
Oh I see trouble all my days
This ailing failing world sends signs of fire and flood and plague
But from the rubble, from the razed
The mightiest cathedral from these ashes we will raise

[Chorus]
And if I spend my life on the losing side
You can lay me down knowing that I tried
There's a better world and on a quiet day
When I hold my breath I can hear her say
Take heart my sisters
And this fire will never die
And take heart my comrades
And no one left behind

[Chorus]
And if I spend my life on the losing side
You can lay me down knowing that I tried
There's a better world and on a quiet day
When I hold my breath I can hear her say

That if I spend my life on the losing side (Take heart my sisters)
You can lay me down knowing that I tried (This fire will never die)
There's a better world and on a quiet day (And take heart my comrades)
When I hold my breath I can hear her say (No one left behind)
That if I spend my life on the losing side
You can lay me down knowing that I tried
There's a better world and on a quiet day
When I hold my breath I can hear her say
She's on her way