The Angel

As I walk these streets alone
Through this borough I call home
Upon the baron fields of Highbury
Neath the stadiums of stone
Through the turnstiles at The Angel
See the homeless on the green
From The Cally to The Cross
And every Shithole in between

Pass the church, the mosque, a crack den
And the offie on the corner
See the brasses from the brothel
That pretends to be a sauna
Watch the bedlam in the bookies
See the winners and the losers
Seeking solace from their sorrows
In the local battle cruisers

Through the madness in the market
Weathered faces turn to greet ya
"Hello guvnor, how's your mother?"
"You alright son, be lucky geeza"
Double pie and mash and liquor
A Cuppa Rosie Lee up chap
Or watch retired gangsters bicker
Everyday in Arthur's cafe

The little fuckers causing trouble
For the cozzers make you smile
You meet ya muckers for a couple
Forget your troubles for a while
From The Thornhill to The Hemmy
All the faces are the same
Cause the manor might be changing
But the people still remain

North London forever
Whatever the weather
These streets are our own
And my heart will leave you never
My blood will forever
Run through the stone

As I walk these streets alone
Through a kingdom made of Chrome
I see them ripping up the cobbles
And tearing down our childhood homes
I see the architecture changing
Watch the history disappear
And the skyline rearranging
Into towers of veneer

But I see the remnants of the London
That they thought they could erase
Every time I hear the old school
Talk about the good old days
Or every time I watch the football
Or have a ruby with the lads
See an hoister selling clobber
Or a dealer shooting bags

It's in the single mothers, juggling a baby
And a job, in every single brother
Struggling that wound up on the dock
It's in the roots and the foundations
Still clinging to the land
It's in the bricks that built the Morland
And Popham that still stand

It's in my family and my friends
In every gram and every Benz
It's in the roots that we inherit
When a generation ends
It's in the ruins of your youth
And the faces of your past
Cause the manor might be changing
But the people always last

North London forever
Whatever the weather
These streets are our own
And my heart will leave you never
My blood will forever
Run through the stone