Brave New World

Halt, who goes there?
Ermph, a friend
Be on your way. This is my territory
Your territory? What do you mean?
Wait a minute... It's you! The man from Maybury Hill
Good heavens, the Artilleryman! I thought you surely burned
I thought you surely drowned
Have you seen any Martians?
Everywhere, we're done for alright

Can't just give up
'Course we can't. It's now we've got to start fighting
Not against them because we can't win
Now we've got to fight for survival
I recon we can make it, I've got a plan

We're gonna build a whole new world for ourselves
Look, they clap eyes on us and we're dead, right?
So we gotta make a new life where they'll never find us
You know where? Underground
You should see it down there, hundreds of miles of drains
Sweet and clean now after the rain
Dark, quiet, safe. We can build houses and everything
Start again from scratch
And what's so bad about living underground eh?
It's not been so great living up here, if you want my opinion

Take a look around you at the world we've come to know
Does it seem to be much more than a crazy circus show
But maybe from the madness something beautiful will grow
In a brave new world
With just a handful of men
We'll start, we'll start all over again
All over again, all over again, all over again

We'll build shops and hospitals and barracks right under their noses
Right under their feet!
Everything we need, banks, prisons and schools
We'll send scouting parties to collect books and stuff, and men like you'll teach the kids
Not poems and rubbish, science, so we can get everything working
We'll build villages and towns and... and we'll play each other at cricket!

Listen, maybe one day we'll capture a fighting machine, eh?
Learn how to make 'em ourselves and then wallop!
Our turn to do some wiping out!
Whoosh with our Heat Ray
Whoosh! And them running and dying
Beaten at their own game
Man on top again!

Now our domination of the Earth is fading fast
And out of the confusion the chance has come at last
To build a better future from the ashes of the past
In a brave new world
Give me a handful of men
We'll start all over again

Look, man is born in freedom an' he soon becomes a slave
In cages of convention from the cradle to the grave
The weak fall by the wayside but the strong will be saved
In a brave new world
With just a handful of men
We'll start all over again

I'm not trying to tell ya what to be
Oh no, oh no, not me
But if mankind is to survive
The people left alive
They're gonna have to build this world anew
And it's going to have to start with me and you
Yes!

I'm not trying to tell you what to be
Oh no, oh no, not me
But if mankind is to survive
The people left alive
They're gonna have to build this world anew
Yes and we will have to be the chosen few

Just think of all the poverty, the hatred and the lies
And imagine the destruction of all that you despise
Slowly from the ashes that phoenix will arise
In a brave new world
With just a handful of men
We'll start all over again

Take a look around you at the world you've loved so well
And bid the ageing empire of man a last farewell
It may not sound like Heaven but at least it isn't Hell
It's a brave new world
With just a handful of men
We'll start, we'll start all over again
All over again, all over again, all over again
I've got a plan!

Can't you just see it?
Civilization starting all over again, a second chance
We'll even build a railway and tunnel to the coast, go there for our holidays
Nothing can stop men like us
I've made a start already
Come on down here and have a look

In the cellar was a tunnel scarcely ten yards long, that had taken him a week to dig
I could have dug that much in a day
I suddenly had my first inkling of the gulf between his dreams and his powers

It's doing the workin' and the thinkin' that wears a feller out
I'm ready for a bit of a rest. How about a drink eh?
Nothing but champagne, now I'm the boss

We drank and then he insisted upon playing cards
With our species on the edge of extermination
With no prospect but a horrible death
We actually played games

Later, he talked more of his plan, but I saw flames flashing in the deep blue night
Red Weed glowing, tripod figures moving distantly and I put down my champagne glass
I felt a traitor to my kind and I knew I must leave this strange dreamer

Take a look around you at the world we've come to know
Does it seem to be much more than a crazy circus show
Maybe from the madness something beautiful will grow