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Thieves’ Imagination
Steve Skaith
Lyrics
At the roadblock I just smiled and said
‘Sorry but I don’t have my papers’.
He gave a shrug and a sigh and he said
‘Well, how can we sort this out?’
‘I got a little refresco,’ I said ‘I’ll make a small consideration’,
He said ‘I think my sergeant
Is going to want a little more than that.’
Oh nothing’s what it seems
It’s like we are in the theatre
He’s got his policeman’s costume on
But a thieves’, he’s got a thieves’ imagination.
‘I’m a cousin to the king,
Very pleased to meet you.’
A minister of state
We can help each other out.
You want to sell some planes?
I can be persuaded
But you are going to have to help me
Sort out this bottom line.
Oh nothing’s what it seems
It’s like we are in the theatre
In their sober suits and ties
But a thieves’, he’s got a thieves’ imagination.
Reaching arms around the world
They’re greasing palms of the undeserved
On the bottom rung, you have to survive
But those at the top
They never know when to stop
Those at the top
They never feel rich enough.
Oh nothing’s what it seems
It’s like we are in the theatre
In their sober suits and ties, and uniforms
And their thieves’ imagination.
Song Description
In the 80’s, Latin Quarter had a song called ‘Corruption’ which we played live a few times but never recorded, and it soon got forgotten. I think one reason for that was that corruption didn’t seem to be such a big deal. At least to me.
How wrong I was. Older, wiser (possibly) and more travelled now, it seems to me now that the world more or less runs on corruption. Often it is an open secret: in many countries, policemen, civil servants etc are paid so little that it is understood that they have to make up their money by extorting the public. But at the top, politicians and businesses conspire to steal billions. In fact, kleptocracy is probably the most common form of government in the world.
The first verse of this song is based on an experience I had in Mexico. The second is referring to an infamous fighter aircraft deal between the UK and Saudi Arabia in which it was alleged a Saudi prince received £1 billion. There was an investigation until, in 2007, Tony Blair ordered it to be stopped.
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