Still Got It by Boy:48 published on 2022-01-30T23:40:18Z Response to Mark Fisher's appeal for songs inspired by themes of tracks on XTC's 1982 album English Settlement, on his podcast What Do You Call That Noise? Inspired by the Andy Partridge song No Thugs In Our House: the main character in the song is a young Asian-beating National Front thug. As Nigel Fielding mentions in his assessment of the song in the podcast, this was a few years into Thatcher's reign, and the UK youth was damagingly polarised: while the NF was calling for immigrants to be repatriated, some of us were mobilised by music, social conscience and community, to fight back - the Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism wars - Red Wedge, and CND. The badge and music said 'I don't care', but we clearly did care, a lot. Where are the latter-day veterans now? I'd like to think the punk spirit lives on in 2022 in suburbia micro-gestures such as leaving the hedge uncut, and wearing the old badges. Lyrics: I leave my hedge uncut, and, you know, I don't care; I'll let my toffee-nosey neighbours stare. Read the badge my generation wears... I found it in my pocket, Thankful I've still got it. They would sneer and tut and just because we were young; The way our hair was cut just told them we were wrong. The snotty songs my generation sung... Well, I still wear the t-shirt, Of every bloodied hurt And I still fight my battles 'cos they're still not won. Our grandads fought the hun forty years before; And still in '81, it was the same old war. The battle scars my generation bore... The boots of every woman, Who marched on Greenham Common The uniforms my generation wore. Mass intimidation in red, white and blue; Repatriate the Asians and Jamaicans too. The beatings that my generation knew... I'll find my donkey jacket, And pin my badge back on it, And if they want to stop it, there's nothing they can do. I'm thankful I've still got it - Found it in my closet; And forty years on we have to see it through. Genre Alternative Rock