This is a message to persons unknown
Persons in hiding. Persons unknown
Survival in silence
Isn't good enough no more
Keeping your mouth shut head in the sand
Terrorists and saboteurs
Each and every one of us
Hiding in shadows persons unknown

Hey there Mr. Average
You don't exist you never did
Hiding in shadows persons unknown
Habits of hiding
Soon will be the death of us
Dying in secret from poisons unknown
This is a message to persons unknown
Strangers and passers-by
Persons unknown
Turning a blind eye
Hope to go unrecognized
Keeping your secrets persons unknown

Housewives and prostitutes
Plumbers in boiler suits
Truants in coffee bars
Who think you're alone
Big men on building sites
Sick men in dressing gowns
Agents in motor cars
Who never go home
Women in factories
One parent families
Women in purdah
Persons unknown
Wild girls and criminals
Rotting in prison cells
Patients in corridors
Persons unknown
Statistics on balance sheets
Numbered and rubberstamped
Blind and invisible
You're lost in your homes
Liggers and layabouts
Lovers on roundabouts
Wake up in the morning
Persons unknown

Accountants in nylon shirts
Feminists in floral skirts
Nurses for when it hurts
Persons unknown
Astronauts and celibates
Deejays and hypocrites
Liars and lunatics
Persons unknown
Hopefuls on football pools
Teachers in empty schools
Kids into heroin not yet full grown
Typists and usherettes
Black men who can't forget
The lonely who long for
Persons unknown

Closet idealists
Baldheaded realists
Rastas and bikers
The voice on the phone
Pimps and economists
Royalty and communists
Rioters and pacifists
Persons unknown

Visionaries with coloured hair
Leather boys who just don't care
Garter girls with time to spare
Persons unknown
Judges with prejudice
Dissidents and anarchists
Policemen deal dirty tricks
To persons unknown
Strikers and pickets
Collectors of tickets
Radical architects
The queen on her throne
Soldiers in uniform
Sailors and stevedores
Beggars and bankers
Perjurers and men of law
Persons unknown
Football crowd hooligans
Bunking off school again
Workers down tools again
United's at home
Smokers with heart disease
Cleaners of lavatories
The old with their memories
Persons unknown

Flesh and blood are who we are
Flesh and blood are what we are
Flesh and blood are who we are
Our cover is blown...






Lyrics submitted by Anal_Cunt

Persons Unknown song meanings
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2 Comments

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  • +2
    My Interpretation

    Possibly the some of the most haunting and poigniant song lyrics ever released. They reveal a world in which everyone is a potential suspect in oppressive govt anti-terrorism (which the song refers to by the use of accusing someone of acting with 'a person or persons unknown' - the late seventies and early eighties) Such laws have become ever more dehumanising and are tenfold what the song foretold, in that no-one is spared and anyone can dissappear. Note that there is only one group who are 'future active' (present imperfect) in the lyrics - 'policemen deal dirty tricks to persons unknown'. Everyone else 'is' or 'has'. The hope is that our common humanity will one day unite us against usurped powers. Under the independent and anrchist crass label - there is of course a lot more besides.

    observermanon July 17, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Brilliant prose

    life1179on July 24, 2020   Link

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