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