Simon Smith's Disability Issue Based Songs

Now I don't need your patronising money
I don't think your jokes are funny
I don't care if you once knew a man
Whose mother's brother didn't have hands.

I don't care for the way
Soci-At-Ease is so unfair
Now I don't care if you can't see my worth
As Iong as you're absent from my birth
I don't care if you don't understand
Until I come to you for your daughter's hand

Disability it's a part of life
You can't cut it out with a surgeon's knife
You can't keep paying to hide it away
Vive la difference, we like it that way

You don't need your limbs to break the law
Even if it ain't worth fighting for
You don't need me
To sing you the score

There's more to a man
Than a handful of lines
That'll give away the plan

These are the words of the oppressed
Victims of stigma and prejudice
So "vive la difference"
Don't ignore your ignorance

Oppression it's alive and well
The black man's still in chains
While the cripple's ring their bells
The women work so hard

For half the pay [Should it say no pay?]
While the TV tells us all it should be this way
Oppression it's alive and well
With bread and circuses
Our souls we sell
Oppression it's the law of this land
Written by and for the average man

You don't need a bunch of Nazis
When you've got misinformed
Political parties.

Accessibility, we need legislation
To see our brother's and sister's
On the streets of this nation.
Legislation means accessibility
Which in turn means social activity.
Integration is the best education
Which in turn means a better
Social situation.

Life is not fair goes hand in hand with
I don't care

People don't go to the circus any more
Because they feel so sorry
When the lions roar
But the freaks and the geeks
That brought the house down
Are escaping from their cages
To roam the streets of this town.

I've Come To Meet You Half Way

7.1990 Simon Smith

I've come to meet you half way But I'm not quite sure from where You say you've been dying to meet me But you're still standing over there We've been talking about opportunity You've said enough about equality I've reasoned that that ain't true, How about you? You've overloaded me with presents And they've lost their pleasure for me You've just about done a good job At fucking up my equality And you're saying don't be angry Some day you'll need a hand And your saying don't be angry Someday you will understand Well I've been reaching out to you But you just turn away Saying something about a beggar And "I'll change tomorrow" But you'll never change today. Well I've come to meet you half way To talk about you and me You say there isn't a problem None are so blind as those who will notsee I've come to meet you half way But I'm not quite sure from where You say you've been dying to meet me But you're still standing over there Maybe it's because you're scared Or maybe you just don't care Maybe my anger drives you away Maybe guilt would make you stay Maybe the fault isn't mine We don't live in a jungle, We're here to live by the law We're here to give and gain But who is all of it for? From the books in the classroom To the books of government From the designs of architects To the builders cement My hand is reaching out to you My heart is calling out to you

Grateful

28 October ‘90

When I was a child in need of material things
The local politician would his camera man bring
Him and the local charity would help me
Help them get some free publicity
Now I've seen some jokers and roller skaters
On charity runs run right past us
I felt so sorry because they didn't understand
They thought handicapped meant cap in hand
And you thought disabled meant unable

Since Johnny's tragic accident

When of course it means that we've been

He's been

DIS-ENABLED

And I was told that it was no one's fault
And I was told to be grateful
For anything they bought
But I've never seen the working class
Licking out the rich kid's ass
Or brushing the dust off the politician's coat
For getting them their rightful vote
So I don't think that I should be grateful
For the way you make me feel disabled
No I don't think that I should be grateful
For the way you add "dis" to able

Plato said he'd rather be dead
Than a man without a hand
But I'd rather be me than him any day
Because he just couldn't understand

Now I don't think that you should be allowed

To feel good for what you've done
Oh what you done,

What you done, oh what you done?

'Cause when it comes to understanding

Here's the point of the story!

It takes more than a charity run
When it comes to change
It takes more
Than a program packed with fun
When it comes to brotherly love
It takes more than a sentimental song

0h sing it to me

More than a million pounds
That the last event wrung

That's handkerchief's full of teardrops
Not door bells or telephones [telethons]
Disabled is a euphemism for
Victims of a social apartheid
You better believe it baby'

* Apologies to Plato who probably didn't say that he'd rather be
dead than not have any hands. Unfortunately Aristotle, who did
say near enough the same thing, was a bit of a mouthful, so
Plato was the next best philosopher who, in syllabic terms at
least, was more appropriate.

Simon Smith

Johnny And Sue

7.1989 Copyright Simon Smith

Johnny talked to Sue While she'd wait for the forty two He'd make her laugh He'd make her cry He'd make her time fly by Johnny leased a car from motability [disability car leasing charity] And drove it 'round Sue's vicinity And one day stopped and said to Sue "Do you want to get in with me" He'd make her laugh He'd make her cry He'd make her time fly by Johnny and Sue grew closer every day Thought their love would never go away Entwined under the burning sun Their life together had begun He'd make her laugh He'd make her cry He'd make her time fly by Sue's mother would often warn Of the burden Johnny'd be Sue's father said she loved out of sympathy And for Johnny's sake she should leave him And for their sake she did He'd make her laugh He'd make her cry He'd make her time fly by A year went by in silence But the kind that said it all When Sue left home to live She didn't laugh no more

I'm not singing a protest song

Now I'm not singing a protest song

But I ain't saying that nothing is wrong

For I just thought you'd like to come along

And see how I feel

Now I'm not trying to spoil your day

But maybe I'd like to change your ways

I just thought you'd like to play

And see how you feel

Now I'm not here coz I ain't got nothing to do

There's a life I have outside of me and you

I just thought that I was almost through

So how do you feel?

Now I'm not aiming to attack

But, maybe, I got up your back

I just thought that you might be getting stuck

So how do you feel?

Now I'm not just looking for a friend

Coz it's all the same in the end

I just thought you had to condescend

To see how I feel?

Hard to keep your cool / Us And Them

It's hard to keep your cool

When you're being treated like a fool

It's even harder being who you are

It's hard to speak your mind

When you're getting left behind

That the closest that you know is very far

It's us and them and you and me

And every term I know ends in “body”

But my body is out and I'm nobody

As far as I can see

For the girls and boys who parade around town

I've got to say my envy brings me down

I say to myself a thought I keep

That beauty of this kind isn't very deep

And if I'm gonna be loved

I'd rather be loved for me

It's us and them and you and me

And every term I know ends in “body”

But my body is out and I'm nobody

As far as I can see

There's people in this world

Who think all we need is a fuck

I'm sorry to say

That they're out of luck

I've tried all that

And still don't feel much better

It's us and them and you and me

And every term I know ends in “body”

But my body is out and I'm nobody

As far as I can see

There's seven and a half million people

Who are very quiet today

Shoved under the carpet

Or denied their say

I'm not sure if you're scene is for me

But then I haven't had the opportunity

That maybe the way you want it

But that ain't the way its gonna be

You Know That Idea

You know that idea about the tree falling

If you don't see it, then does it fall?

You've heard about the liberation

And what happens to the tall

Now, what if you don't see me on the TV

And, what if you don't hear me call

Does it mean I just don't exist?

Does it mean you don't care at all?

And will you invite me

Will you invite me

To your secret ball

I'm driving south of the river

There's a woman in a chair

She's pushing herself along the road

The drivers are thinking, “yeah, she's got a nerve”

She's stranded coz there's no break in the kerb

So the middle of the road isn't safe anymore

And there's no way out when you block the door

And you don't mind

Till we move next door

And aren't you protected by the law?

You know that idea about the tree falling

If you don't see it, then does it fall?

You've heard about our liberation

And what happens to the tall

Now, what if you don't see me on the TV

And, what if you don't hear me call

Does it mean I just don't exist?

Does it mean you don't care at all?

And will you invite me

Will you invite me

To your secret ball

Okr, okl dis

Tolerate

When the sun comes up I lay down

You ring me up and I can hear you frown

You don't approve, you make it known

Like a hurricane, with its wind a blowing

There's a word, just for you

I'm hoping that, it's gonna do

Coz this word is tolerate

There's small and tall, and black and white

And people with bodies, that will give you a fright

There's people like you, and there's people like me

I've even heard there's people, who come from the sea

There's people who are prompt, but lots are late

There's lines that are predictable, to tolerate

There's those that can, and there's those that can't

There's those that live, with a different slant

There's people who love, and there's people who hate

There's people even telling you to tolerate

There's drums banging out, from holier than thou's

There's people even breaking, the holiest of vows

There's politicians lying, calling you their mate

Just stick you finger in your ear, and tolerate

There's people who swear, who just don't care

Those that dote too much, those that sing songs

That go on too long, looking for a word that rhymes with tolerate

Get on your nerves singing tolerate

There's people like you, and there's people like me

I've even heard there's people, who come from the sea

There's small and tall, and black and white

And people with bodies, that will give you a fright

There's people who are prompt, but lots are late

There's lines that are predictable, to tolerate

There's those that can, and there's those that can't

There's those that live, with a different slant

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