Tubthumper

Chumbawamba's best-selling album, Tubthumper, was released in various formats around the world, and re-released several times. In addition to the standard twelve tracks, several additional tracks were included on the disc (depending upon the re-issue, location, etc.).

Tubthumping

(BBC Sessions version, recorded 16-JUN-69)
Hey babe, stop what you're doin'
Hey girl, you brought me to ruin
I don't know what it is about you that I like so much
Won't you let me hold you, and let me feel your lovin' touch
(Chorus)
Communication breakdown it's always the same
I'm having a nervous breakdown--you drive me insane
Hey babe, I got something you oughtta know
I wanna tell you baby, I wanna tell you that I love you so
I wanna hold you in my arms, yeah
Oh, I won't let you go, 'cause I like your charms
(Repeat chorus)
My, my, my babe
(Boff's ripping guitar solo)
(Repeat chorus)
Doo, doo, doo, uh huh, uh huh
Oh, it's alright, it's so good
I don't know much, just a little bit
I can't take it, oh pretty baby, I just want a little bit
Give it to me, give it to me
Squeeze my lemon just a little bit
Squeeze my lemon just a little bit, oh, my, oh, oh
Oh yeah, I don't want, I don't want no communication, I don't want, yeah
Oh, my, my baby, come on, I can't stop it

Amnesia

(On Flame With Rock And Roll version--Corrected)
I plot your rubric scarab
I steal your satin light
I want your life to be mine
Maybe tonight, maybe tonight
I choose to steal what you choose to show
And you know I will not apologize
You're mine for the taking
I'll make it a career of evil
I'll make it a career of evil
I'd like your blue-eyed horseshoe
I'd like your emerald horny-toad
I'd like to do it to your daughter on a dirt road
And then I'd spend your ransom money
But still, I'd keep your sheep
I'd peel the mask you're wearing
And then rob you of your sleep
Rob you of your sleep

Drip, Drip, Drip

Eat, sleep and crap
For to prey on your needs
Down a dark street
In backwater Leeds
I seen yer comin'
Come in, lads!
You seen the ad?
Too bad, bad, bad
What you get
Is what you see
It's a trickledown theory
And it's coming to me
Life's a whip-round
And I've got the whip
It's a sinking ship
Drip, drip, drip
(Chorus)
Drip, drip, drip goes the water
(Repeat)
Take me in
Throw me out
Put me up
Let me down
Dark, Satanic
Run-of-the-mill
Sing us a song
And I'll send you the bill
My nicotine grip
My smokin' gun
It's how I get my fun
Better run, run, run
Your olfactory nerves
All up the spout
You can't smell a rat
When your nose is out
Rent-to-kill
By any other name
Kiss an old flame
Shame, shame, shame
(Repeat chorus)

The Big Issue

(Intro)
There are those
Spend the night under bridges
Over by the river
Down in the park through the winter
But there's a house that I know
Safe and warm
And no-one ever goes there
Down where the priests bless the wine
She's been born into the wrong time
She keeps nonsense on her mind
She's a poet, she's a builder
She's as bored as bored can be
She's a have-not, she's a know-all
She knows just how to say yes
She's skating frozen chaos
Till the no-good gods are dead
But sometimes in the dead of night
Woken by the city lights
She wonders how she keeps alive
(Chorus)
This is the girl who lost the house
Which paid to the man who put up the rent
And threw out the girl to
Feather his own sweet home
She's a clueless social climber
Likes the wrong side of the bed
She's a pick-me-up and she's a drink-to-me
In the company of friends
She's tried every variation
She's so common, she's so cold
She's homesick for a future
Can't stomach what she's told
On every street in every town
All her days are up and down
At home among the lost-and-founds
(Repeat chorus)
Here's the good Samaritan
Looks away and carries on
(Repeat chorus)
(Repeat intro)
Thank you for every tree and flower
Thank you for every sky of blue
Thank you, I should be every hour
Truly thanking you

The Good Ship Lifestyle

This is the good ship lifestyle
All my friends jumped ship
I elect me the captain
This is the loneliest voyage
I've ever been on
Up in the crow's nest
Over there! I see land!
First mate? There is no first mate
This is the good ship lifestyle
(Chorus)
Sail away from the world
Sail away from the world
So steer a course
A course for nowhere
And drop the anchor
My little empire
I'm going nowhere
This is the good ship lifestyle
I'm going nowhere
This is the good ship lifestyle
I'm going nowhere
This is the good ship lifestyle
I fly my very own flag
TV dinners for one
At the captain's table
Repel all boarders
Draw the curtains tighter
Where's the crew? There is no crew
This is the good ship lifestyle
(Repeat chorus)

One by One

Pontius Pilate came to our town
Up to the dockyards to see the picket line
We asked him to help but he just turned around
He's the leader of the union now
Leader of the union
All of our questions he ignored
He washed his hands and he dreams of his reward
A seat in the House of Lords
One by one the ships come sailing in
One by one the ships go sailing out
We live for words and die for words
Principles we can afford
When all our Brothers turn to Lords
Whose side are you on
You tell the world your hands are tied
History three times denied
A sea of changes three miles wide
Whose side are you on
One by one the ships come sailing in
One by one the ships go sailing out
This conspiracy of shame
Murder by some other name
Play up and play the game
Whose side are you on
If any ask us why we died
We tell them that our leaders lied
Sold us out down the riverside
Whose side are you on
One by one the ships come sailing in
One by one the ships go sailing out
(Repeat)

Outsider

I'm not alone, you're not alone
You see me, you hear me
There are millions think just like me

Creepy Crawling

What a wonderful world
What a wonderful world
A loose door-jamb, light left on
The oldest national lottery
Enter Johnny-go-darkly
Come to spoil my party
Smell of feces lingers
Echo of light fingers
Cold comfort blankets
Steeped in creeping anger
Flatfoot comes poking
Compounding my misery
Grinding pestle and mortar
Adding insult to injury
If only this, if only that,
If only in my guts
See my life before my eyes
Trampled underfoot
(Chorus)
Creepy crawling
(Repeat)
All the creeps go creepy crawling
Same thing every night
How can stealing candy from a baby seem alright?
What a wonderful world
What a wonderful world
Corvino, carrion crow
Skulking with his mobile
Slippery peat-bog eyes
Stick-on smiley smile
Small print like quicksand
Not a wooden leg to stand on
Sinking through my stomach
The ground beneath me gone
Free-fall, call Ophelia
Clutching at straw
Mixed with bloody feathers
From scruff of neck of crow
Johnny go! Johnny gone!
Too much drink in your tum-tum-tum
See this finger, see this thumb
See this fist and watch it come
(Chorus)

Mary, Mary

(Hail Mary)
No virgin me for I have sinned
I sold my soul for sex and gin
Go call a priest all meek and mild
And tell him, 'Mary is no more a child'
It's raining stones, it's raining bile
From the luxury of your denial
So I don't deny, I don't make do
I'll press alarms, place bets on truth
(Chorus)
I'm so up and down, and I love what's not allowed
I was lost, now I see
And now I'm growing old disgracefully
Whatever happened to Mary?
(Repeat)
Whatever happened to
(Hail Mary)
I'll spit on floors, and do more drugs
Burn every bill, get drunk on love
Wear next to nothing in the pouring rain
Be a bad example and do it all again
I'll be uncareful, I'll cause such scenes
And I'll never talk of used-to-be's
Tattoo my face, I won't go gray
Be a dancing queen, I'm growing old disgracefully
(Repeat chorus)
Mary, Mary, Mary, quite contrary
(Repeat)
(Yram Liah)

Smalltown

And every morning comes too soon
All your nights are sleepless
Poison arrows
To ruin your tomorrows
Below suspicion
Cafes full of people dressed as spies
And all I know
Is guilt for being different
It's always raining stones
There's a killer in the home
In a small town
Everybody looks the same
There are unwritten rules
Unspoken words
Should I pack my fear and go?
(Chorus)
I have to leave somehow
Before they run me out of town
I have to leave somehow
And every morning comes too soon
All your nights are sleepless
Poison arrows
To ruin your tomorrows
There are unwritten rules
Unspoken words
Should I pack my fear and go?
(Repeat chorus)

I Want More

Blue-rinse sugar
Wipe-clean couple
Pinched last supper
Counting pretty penny
John Betjeman
Some dead liar
Quiet pink picture
Under heavy manners
(Chorus)
This is Tearoom England
They'll kick your face in
So politely
This is Tearoom England
They'll kick your face in
Oh so nicely
I want more!
No hurry
More!
So sorry
I want more!
Don't worry
More!
(Repeat)
Bite-size china
Tea or tartar
Lipstick traces
Table set to bless
Sweet charity
Lukewarm whisper
Still-life platter
Under heavy manners
(Repeat chorus)
No hurry
So sorry
Don't worry
(Repeat)

Scapegoat

After-shave and smoke and the same unfunny jokes
They say they'll take you anywhere but there
Believe every half-whispered, half-remembered lie
Where truth is a luxury they can't afford to buy
(Chorus)
Scapegoat
Looking for a scapegoat
Scapegoat
Looking for a scapegoat
There's always someone else for you to blame
There's always someone else for you to blame
Backed into a corner he barricades his life
Fastens up the shutters every night
This island is big enough for every castaway
But most of us are looking 'round for someone else to blame
(Repeat chorus)

Seven Days

One
One day, one day of paradise
One day, one day of paradise
All truth is opinion, believe me
Discussion has become a privilege
Creativity is a salesman's PR exercise
Style is the new currency
Two
Two days, two days of paradise
Two days, two days of paradise
No-one is safe outside the shopping centres
Reality is just an MTV buzzword
We are all just a target audience
Bigger choice of identical things
Three
Three days, three days of paradise
Three days, three days of paradise
So much to buy, so much to buy
Four
Four days, four days of paradise
Four days, four days of paradise
Life is a metaphor for television
Ideas are now soundbites and they never bite back
Everything is OK at Lies-R-Us
Off-the-pog crowd control
Five
Five days, five days of paradise
Five days, five days of paradise
The community is now anti-social
Do it yourself is against the law
Poverty is a fashion statement
The alternative has become the mainstream
Six
Six days, six days of paradise
Six days, six days of paradise
So much to buy, so much to buy
Seven
Seven days, seven days of paradise
So much to buy, so much to buy
Seven days, seven days of paradise
So much to buy, so much to buy

May Day

May Day
(Repeat)