Kae Tempest
People’s Faces (Streatham Version)
[Verse 1]
It's coming to pass, my country's coming apart
The whole thing's becoming such a bumbling farce
Was that a pivotal historical moment we just went stumbling past?
Well, here we are, dancing in the rumbling dark
So come a little closer, give me something to grasp
Give me your beautiful, crumbling heart
Another disaster, catharsis
Another half-discarded mirage
Another mask slips
I face off with the physical
My head's ringing from the love of the stars
There is too much pretense here
Too much dеpends on the fragile wagеs
And extortionate rents here
We're working every dread day that is given us
Feeling like the person we could be, it really isn't us
Like we're gonna buckle underneath the trouble
Like any minute now, our struggle's are going to finish us
And then we smile at all our friends
[Refrain]
It's hard, we got our heads down and our hackles up
Backs against the wall, I can feel you aching
None of this was written in stone
There is nothing we're forbidden to know
And I can feel things changing
Even when I'm weak and I'm breaking
I'll stand weeping at the train station
'Cause I can see your faces
There is so much peace to be found in people's faces
[Verse 2]
I saw it roaring
I felt it clawing at my clothes like a grieving friend
It said there are no new beginnings
Until everybody sees that the old ways need to end
But it's hard to accept that we're all one and the same flesh
Given the rampant divisions between oppressor complicit and oppressed
But we are, though
More empathy, less greed and more respect
All I've got to say has already been said
You heard it from yourself
When you were lying in your bed and couldn't sleep
Thinking, "Couldn't we be doing things differently?"
I'm listening to every little whisper in the distance singing hymns
And I can, I can feel things changing
[Refrain]
It's so hard, we got our heads down and our hackles up
Backs against the wall, I can feel your heart racing
None of this was written in stone
The current's fast, but the river moves slow
And I can feel things changing
Even when I'm weak and I'm breakin'
I stand weeping at the train station
'Cause I can see your faces
There is so much peace to be found in people's faces
I love people's faces