Benjamin Zephaniah: Rong Radio Station

My ears are battered and burned and
i have just learned that i have been
listening to the wrong radio station

My mind has been brutalised now the pain can't be disguised
I've been listening to the wrong radio station

I was beginning to believe that all black men were bad men
and white men would reign again
I was beginning to believe that i was a mindless drugs freak that
couldn't control my sanity or my sexuality
I was beginning to believe that I could not believe in nothing except nothing
and all i ever wanted to do was to get you and to do you.
I've been listening to the wrong radio station.

My future has been blighted i am so short sighted
I've been listening to the wrong radio station

I was beginning to not trust me, in fact, i wanted to arrest me
I've been listening to the wrong radio station.

I've been dancing to music that i can't stand.
I've been reciting commercials to my girlfriends.
I've been trying to convince myself that what i really need is a sunbed
and a mortgage and some hairspray, the kind of hairspray that will wash my grey blues away.

I been trying to convince myself that i could ease my conscience
if I gave a few pence or a few cents to a starving baby in Africa
because African babies need my favours
because Africa is full of dictators
and oh yeah globalisation will bring salvation!
I've been listening to the wrong radio station.

I thought my neighbours formed an axis of evil
I wanna go kill people
I've been listening to the wrong radio station.

I am sure I didn't inhale so why is my mind going stale
I've been listening to the wrong radio station

I was beginning to believe that all muslims are terrorists
and christian terrorists think they existed
I really did believe that terrorism couldn't be done by governments
not our government, not white government
I just could not see what was wrong with me.
I gave hungry people hamburgers you see
I was beginning to believe that our children were better than their children
their children would die from terrorism but i couldn't hear their children call
and a child from Palastine simply didn't count at all.
What despair,
no children i was not aware
I'd been listening to the wrong radio station.

For years I've been sedated, and now i think I'm educated
I've been listening to the wrong radio station
and every time i got ill, i took the same little white pill
I've been listening to the wrong radio station.

When it started I was curious but then it got so serious
It was cool when it began but now I really hate Iran
and look at me now i wanna make friend with Pakistan
I wanna bomb Afghanistan, and i need someone to tell me,
where the hell is Kurdistan?
Yeah, you can be my ally for a while until i come to bomb your child
and I'm sure there's a continent called the middle east
and i think i can bomb my way to peace
I've been listening to the wrong radio station.

I've been listening to the wrong jams, I've been listening to the wrong beat
I've been listening to the wrong radio station.
I've been listening to the wrong tones of the wrong zones
I've been listening to the wrong radio station
I've been listening to the wrong voices
I made such mad choices
I've been listening to the wrong radio station.
I've been listening to spies I've been listening to lies
I've been listening to the wrong radio station.

I needed to know what some pop star somewhere was having for breakfast
I needed to know that I was no longer working class
I needed to know if the stock market rose 1 percent
I needed to know that I had a ruler to give me confidence
I needed to know that my life would improve loads
if I had an operation on my nose.
I needed to hear that DJ say,
"Good morning, good morning!"
I thought he was there just for me
I loved the way that he would say, "This show was sponsered by...".
"Oh my oh my", he made me cry
I've been listening to the wrong radio station.

Can you dig this? I put my self on a hit-list
I've been listening to the wrong radio station
I'm laughing and I'm crying and I'm watching myself dying
I've been listening to the wrong radio station.

Listen to him, can you hear?
Listen to her, can you hear?
Listen to it, can you hear?
Listen to me, keep this frequency clear!
Tune in, Drop out.