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Beki: ‘You Can’t Buy Back the Dead’ began life as a ‘stream of consciousness’-type poem I found myself writing one day back in the late nineties.
I recall that the idea came together really easily.
The poem sat in my folder for a few months, and then we began writing for the ‘Get A Life’ album.
Paul came up with a very simple C-to-E chugging palm-muted riff, and I dug out the poem.
A lot of it fitted my vocal melody idea, but there were a few verses I didn’t use.
The first verse was stripped down to just guitar and vocals to bring attention to the lyrics.
The song was released on ‘Get A Life’ in 1999, and it was a part of our live set for many years.
As is often the case with punk bands, sadly the subject matter never gets old.
We re-recorded it again in 2025, and it’s a bonus track on our ‘Punk Rockers: The Best of Vice Squad’ CD album.
We thought it deserved a video because it’s a favourite among our supporters, but also because of current events in the Middle East.
Marketing new miracles
To keep us off the streets
Some fall by the way side
Uninvited to the feast
Welcome home the vulture men
To pick the bodies clean
Cover up and sanitise
The cruel and the obscene
But you can’t take it with you
Or pay God to forgive you
You can’t buy back the dead and gone
No you can’t take it with you
Or pay God to forgive you
The war machine still rumbles on
Human vermin fighting
Over rotting meat
Top dogs in designer clothes
Delight in their deceit
Make God in your likeness
Stifle intellect
Arrogance is worshipped
In the gutter press
Carve up other countries
With your butchers knife
Who cares when the profit
Justifies the price?
But you can’t take it with you
Or pay God to forgive you
You can’t buy back
The dead and gone
Enough’s never enough
Absolute power will corrupt
The war machine still rumbles on