Nothing Like Velvet

Lyrics

Another feature film about an air-line disaster
Another news item and another newscaster
But there’s worst to come at the arrival gate
There’s a crack on board and it’s running in freight

Well the fruit of the poppy take up all your time
Getting high by the hands of re-organised crime
Put the squeeze on the Colombian leaf
Make the brother a liar and a sister a thief

It’s nothing like velvet, nothing like velvet
It’s nothing like velvet but it starts off smooth
Nothing like velvet and a rut’s not a groove
It’s nothing like velvet when it’s pound on pound
Nothing like velvet when you’re underground

They’re shooting up Glasgow, shooting up Leeds
There was never this peril with the stems and seeds
And the hip and the right have got nothing to say
Except, “It’s out of control and it’s headed your way”

It’s nothing like velvet, nothing like velvet

And I loved Charlie Parker but you know he did us harm
Every time he left to pour that inspiration in his arm

It’s nothing like velvet but it starts off smooth
Nothing like velvet and a rut’s not a groove
It’s nothing like velvet when it’s pound on pound
Nothing like velvet when you’re underground

Song Description

About the traffic in hard drugs, which is controlled by organised crime in the UK as well. Many criminals are dealing in this domain. There wasn’t the same connection with violence with Marihuana. But those who like to think they are ‘hip’ maintain that everyone should decided for themselves if they want to take drugs or not. And the Right likes to present horror stories, without looking at the social causes of the problem. Charlie Parker was an idol, but a bad example because of his heroin addiction.

Crack: A crack in the aeroplane, but also the drug crack that’s being transported on it. Poppy: The basis for heroin is extracted from the seeds of the poppy. Colombian Leaf: Cocaine is made from the leaves of the coca bush – of which Colombia is the biggest producer. Velvet: Also a play on The Velvet Underground, a band that glorified heroin consumption in one song. Pound On Pound: A reference to the money that needs to be found to buy the drugs. Shooting up: Here refers to shooting up with guns as well as with needles. Charlie Parker: American jazz saxophonist – died in 1955.

Versions

• ADemo (3:30)
• BLive (3:47)

Appears On