We came across the North Sea with our carriers on our knees
Wound up in some holding camp somewhere outside Leeds
Because we do not care to fight, my friends - we are the weeds
Because we got no homes they call us smelly refugees
We are weeds, vegetation, dense undergrowth
Through cracks in the pavement: there weeds will grow
The places you don't go
This cut-price dairy produce that turns our bones to dust
You want some entertainment?
Go on, shove it up me - if you must
Make believe you're so turned on by planting trees and shrubs
but you come round to visit us when you fancy booze 'n' drugs
We are weeds, vegetation, dense undergrowth
Through cracks in the pavement: there weeds will grow
The places you don't go
And if you think it's a crime
We'd like to get you out of your mind
It's just a matter of time, yeah
We'd like to get you out of your mind
Gonna cut you down in your prime, yeah
We'd like to get you out of your mind
For a little time
I've always been fascinated by plants growing in places where they shouldn't really be - like weeds growing in cracks in the paving stones. For some reason I thought: "That's a bit like humans in a city - you're a natural thing but you're growing in this slightly hostile, crappy environment but somehow managing to survive." I started thinking about how most good music comes from people who are in shitty circumstances and then the Svengali comes along and makes all the money and the artist gets fucked off. Then there was the drugs connotation. There's a slumming-it mentality in our society which is going back to a Common People theme - people getting a buzz from scoring drugs off a council estate: "It's so authentic, I was in a real council house, and these people had tattoos and everything." It's like they've got real contempt for these people and they'll spit on them, but when they want some drugs or they wanna shag a prostitute they're OK.
And then there was the whole thing about weeds being considered to be weak things. You get called a weed in England in a school if you're supposed to be a weak person, and yet weeds, as far as i can see, are the most tenacious plants 'cos they grow in very hostile [places] - they'll grow in a little tiny bit of soil. I always like it when you're going down a street and you see a roof and there's this big bush growing off the top of it...