Everything is turning upside down in this town  The crime rate's rising up as employment swoops down  Kids can't trust their parents to protect them no more  And if you're black or Irish you just can't trust the law    Winos on the corner with no hope and no plan  Kids on 5 quid drug deals waiting for their man  Estates in states of chaos, hatred scrawled on the walls  The men of law and order writhe about on the floor  No-one dreams of living, those hopes lie on the rocks  Your newly detached heaven is a cardboard box    [Chorus:]  And it seems  And it seems  Someone's used the cosh and the country's on its knees  Someone's used the cosh and the country's on its knees    Old folk freeze to death in flats where damp streams down the walls  Poll tax bailiffs scream unheard in countless council halls  Plans for new development that never cure the mess  Benefits that won't be paid unless you've an address  No-one dreams of living, those hopes lie on the rocks  Your newly detached heaven is a cardboard box    Our Welfare State's collapsing  And no-one seems to care  As long as money's being made  And profits there to share  Buy into a service that  Belonged to you and me  Soon you'll find our country  Is the UK pic    No-one dreams of living, those hopes lie on the rocks  Your newly detached heaven is a cardboard box    [Chorus:]  Down on its knees  Down on its knees  Someone's used the Cosh  The country's down on it's knees  Down on it's knees  Down on it's knees ... And it seems ...    [Chorus]