The great British mistake was looking for a way out,
Was getting complacent, not noticing
The pulse was racing
The mistake was fighting
The change, was staying the same
It couldn't adapt so it couldn't survive,
Something had to give
The people take a downhill slide into the gloom
Into the darn recesses of their minds

I swoop over your city like a bird
I climb the high branches and observe
Into the mouth, into the soul
I cast a shadow that swallows you whole
I swoop, I climb, I cling, I suck,
I swallow you whole

String out the drip-feed, they're losing their world,
They're losing their hard boys and magazine girls
Advert illegal, TV as outlaw, motive as spell
They'll see the books burn They'll be 451,
It's people against things and not against each other
Out of the pre-pack, into the fear, into themselves
They're the great British mistake
The genie's out of the bottle, call in the magician
They didn't mean to free him, devil behind them,
devil in the mirror, chained to their right hands
They're the great British mistake
They'll have to come to terms now, they'll take it out somehow
They'll blame it all on something
The British mistake - when will it be over?
How can they avoid it?

The great British mistake
The great British mistake
The great British mistake