Question Time – English Lyrics

• By: Dave
• Album: Game Over EP

Lyrics & Translation

Dive into the powerful and articulate world of UK rap with Dave's "Question Time." This seven-minute lyrical masterclass is a profound exploration of British politics and society, offering an unparalleled opportunity to engage with contemporary English through its rich vocabulary, nuanced expression of frustration, and masterful storytelling. Discover how Dave uses sophisticated wordplay and direct challenges to dissect complex issues, making it an essential listen for anyone looking to understand modern English and the art of impactful communication.

[English]

Look

A question for the new prime minister

How'd you have a heart so sinister?

How are you so wasteful when people are dying in Somalia

Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya?

The irony is we have no business in Syria

But kids are getting killed for all the business in Syria

And then they try and tell you it's ISIS, it's ISIS

And their attempts at killing it, how many civilians died

So what's the difference between us and them?

When you got drones killing kids just touching ten

Then when a bomb goes off, every politician's lost

Like that lost like that last strike that didn't kill a hundred men

You ain't the same as them

But all that fuel for the fire is what you gave to them

And what you take from them

All my life I know my mum's been working

In and out of nursing, struggling, hurting

I just find it fucked that the government is struggling

To care for a person that cares for a person

So where's the discussion on wages and budgets?

How they made them redundant when I was a young'un

The letters in our car said my mum was overdraft

But somehow I still had dinner money in my pocket

And even the little things like ordering pizza

Were probably the reason for overtime in the evening

Five till ten, six hours of sleeping

For 22 years my mum was doing the cleaning

Dreaming that her kids would have a better life

Go in bed at night, struggling with getting by

That's the reality for millions of people in a nation

Where a lot of us were looking for a second try

A question for the new prime minister

And please, tell me if I'm being narrowminded

But how do we spend so much money on defence

And weapons to wage war when the NHS is dying?

Bursting at the seams, and what about the people

That voted for us to leave for the money that it would see?

350 million we give to the EU every week

That our health service needs

But now them politicians got what they wanted

Can you see an empty promise or a poster on the street?

Nurses in tears 'cause they're working every hour of the week

And they still don't have the money that they need

You brought the heart of the nation to its knees

Underpaid, understaffed, overworked

And overseen by people who can't ever understand

How it feels to live life like you and me

Patients lying in the corridors

'Cause doctors can't even find a bed for them to sleep

I remember A&E and all them sickening screams

Of a little girl waiting for a surgeon to be seen

Privatized healthcare, guns for police

Increased uni fees, is this what they're selling us?

Well let me remind you just in case you've forgotten

That we live in Great Britain, not in Donald Trump's America

Speaking of America, state and the president

With all due respect, I've got something to say to them

I just find it funny you can't give a hand to Palestine

But you can trade whole arms with Saudi Arabia

Look, look

I've got a question for the new prime minister

At Grenfell Tower, your response was ridiculous

You hid like a coward behind your five million

Dodged responsibility and acted like you're innocent

And I can see you're terrified, you're not good at telling lies

I'm getting why you stay away from everything that's televised

You look like a robot and you don't speak with any life

It feels to me like any guy in press could've said them lines

Imagine going to the council for the safety of your block

And you've got kids but they're ignoring you at every time

Everyone who knew about that cladding

Should really be going prison under rule of joint enterprise

But if it ain't a little kid with a knife

I bet that judge is going easy when he's giving him time

They don't deserve to be free

Any builder, MP that knew about the conditions but did it to save cheese

When I listen to the things that the residents had seen

I was so shocked I couldn't even speak

Families they know that had died in their sleep

How you choke on the smoke when you're struggling to breathe

The glow from the fire

The panic when you hear all the sirens

The crackling, the popping and the muffled-out screams

The fear in the eyes of a man that was trapped

Who jumped 15 floors from the tower to the street

I could only hear a fraction of the pain and the grief

Closing my eyes, trying hard not to cry

And the joy and relief in the face of a man

When a woman from the flat said his neighbour was alive

No help from the council in keeping any list

Or the people that survived, his neighbours and peers

And for that whole meeting I could see that he was trying

So his smile was an island in a sea full of tears

Look, I've got a message for our old prime minister

David Cameron

I mean you fucked us, resigned, then sneaked out the firing line

I wanna know how you managed it

And are you bathing in the sun while them papers have a run

At the woman that you left here to handle it?

You gonna teach your little lad to be the man that's got a plan

And then the moment that it fails to abandon it?

Are there bullies in his school?

And when you pick them up after class, can you feel his embarrassment?

I mean you never gave a fuck about the youth and that's the truth

There's no sympathy for you or your cabinet

I really wish I could've seen how you were scramblin'

When you lost the referendum that you had to win

I feel like politicians are all addicts

In a big fat game but it's lives that you gamble with

I've got a question for the leader of the Labour Party

Jeremy Corbyn, where do you wanna take the country to?

Honestly, I wanna put my trust in you

But you can understand why if I've got trust issues

Do you really have the faith of your party?

Do you really have faith in the party that will come with you?

And how do you plan on keeping all the promises?

Man, if I'm being honest, sir, I'm struggling to get with it

I just ain't getting it

Everybody's great until you get them into office and then guys start forgetting things

Prove to us you're different, don't promise me anything

Go and get justice for Rashan Charles and Edison

And if you haven't had the thought to vote yet

Or protest 'cause you don't really see the progress

I hope you know that what they're saying is affecting us

The small steps are way better than no steps

We have to accept responsibility

For our actions

And our politics

Yes, politicians are all humans

We do make mistakes, we have got to learn

Honesty, accountability, transparency

Faith, belief to that

If we accomplish that, there may be hope for the human race

There may, there there there, there may be hope for the human race

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
question /ˈkwɛstʃən/ B1	noun - a sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information
prime /praɪm/ B1	adjective - of first importance
minister /ˈmɪnɪstər/ B2	noun - a head of a government department
people /ˈpiːpəl/ A1	noun - human beings in general or considered collectively
death /dɛθ/ B1	noun - the end of life of a person or organism
government /ˈɡʌvənmənt/ B1	noun - the governing body of a nation, state, or community
responsibility /rɪˌspɒnsəˈbɪlɪti/ B2	noun - the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something
discussion /dɪsˈkʌʃən/ B2	noun - the action or process of talking about something to reach a decision
justice /ˈdʒʌstɪs/ B2	noun - just behavior or treatment
system /ˈsɪstəm/ A2	noun - a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network
nation /ˈneɪʃən/ B1	noun - a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language
hospital /ˈhɒspɪtl/ A2	noun - a health facility where patients receive treatment
politician /ˌpɒlɪˈtɪʃən/ B1	noun - a person involved in politics, especially one holding a political office
promise /ˈprɒmɪs/ B1	noun - a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing
bully /ˈbʊli/ B2	verb - to use superior strength or influence to intimidate someone
struggle /ˈstrʌɡəl/ B2	verb - to make forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction

Key Grammar Structures

• How'd you have a heart so sinister?

  ➔ Contraction and inversion in questions

  ➔ The phrase "How'd you have" is a contraction of "How did you have" showing question inversion.

• And their attempts at killing it, how many civilians died

  ➔ Noun phrase with gerund; embedded question

  ➔ "Attempts at killing it" uses a gerund "killing" after a noun; "how many civilians died" acts as an embedded question.

• And even the little things like ordering pizza

  ➔ Gerund as a noun; example with "like"

  ➔ "Ordering" is a gerund functioning as a noun, showing an example of 'little things like ordering pizza.'

• For 22 years my mum was doing the cleaning

  ➔ Past continuous tense for ongoing past action

  ➔ "Was doing" is past continuous showing an action that lasted for a period in the past.

• And please, tell me if I'm being narrowminded

  ➔ Present continuous tense for current temporary state

  ➔ "I'm being narrowminded" uses present continuous to express a temporary personal behavior or attitude.

• I just find it fucked that the government is struggling

  ➔ Present continuous for current action; informal adjective usage

  ➔ "Is struggling" is present continuous action; "fucked" used informally as an adjective expressing frustration.

• Do you really have the faith of your party?

  ➔ Modal verb in question form

  ➔ "Do you really have" uses the auxiliary 'do' to form a question in present simple.

• If you haven't had the thought to vote yet

  ➔ Present perfect negative in conditional clause

  ➔ "Haven't had" is the present perfect negative used in the 'if' conditional clause indicating an action not yet done.