Sirens screaming, get your kit on quick
Drop down the pole, moving at a lick
Pulling out the station, full steam ahead
Left, right, swing out, lights are on red
Engine roars like it’s gonna explode
Cars pulling in all along the road
Burning building, we’re just in time
Just another call on the 999

Chorus
Firefighters, Firefighters, Firefighters

On with your BA, pull out the reel
Move into the building, nerves well-steeled
Gaffer’s on the blower, working as a team
We all pull together, a well-oiled machine
Black, black, smoke, mind how you go
Watch for your mates and keep your belly low
One wrong step and that’ll be you,
Down into the flames with your DSU

Chorus

Just another call, just another shout
People inside and we got to get ’em out
Pull ’em out careful, one at a time
One false step and a life's on the line
Get ’em down the ladder to the parameds
At least this time nobody’s dead
Pile in the truck when you’ve put out the flame
One more day in the firefighter game

Chorus

Back to the station, we laugh and we crack
Your turn, mate, to get the supper on Jack
Everybody’s starving, grub’s served out
Off goes the siren, another bloody shout
A gob full of chips down the motorway
An empty stomach and an RTA
Twelve more hours ’til this watch is through
Ain’t no rest with the firefighter blues

BA, Breathing apparatus
DSU, Distress Signal Unit, warning signal device used when firefighters are in danger.
RTA, Road Traffic Accident.

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2. TOO MUCH PRESSURE

They came from Jamaica and Asia to the land of liberty
To the golden gates of England, to support their families
Instead of milk and honey, all got was freezing rain
Too much pressure, prejudice and pain

Chorus
Too much pressure
Too much pressure
Too much pressure
Too much pressure

They landed in England, come through the custom gates
They landed in sweat shops and working for the welfare state
They landed in jobs the white man wouldn’t do
Scrubbing down their floors, swilling out their loos

Chorus

They stayed through the mean years, stayed to build a home
Stayed through the hate years, made this land their own
Their kids grew strong and they had different schemes
But too much pressure blocking off their dreams

Chorus

Burn baby, burn baby, burn, the sky she is alight
Justice now, we demand our rights
They’re walking from the shadows
And they’re walking out into the day (saying)
“We’re black and British and we are here to stay”

Chorus

I told my father a fireman I will be
This job I can do for our community
My father, he smiled, and then he shook his head
Saying, “There ain't no black, son, working in the red”

Chorus

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3. SON OF A GUN

Well my name’s John, I’m the deputy mon
I’m a rootin’, tootin’, son of a gun
I don’t say much, but I’m wild as an old coyote
I’ve seen things that hurt inside
But my eyes is dry as the desert sky
’Cos I sure know how to hold back my emotions

Well, this little town is hard and mean
We don’t like strangers on our scene
We pistol whip them rattlesnakes out of town
If they come back we give ’em more
We lay ’em out flat on the bar room floor
Kick ’em around and throw warm beer in their faces

Well there ain’t no Injuns in our town
Them that come here don’t stick around
I guess they don’t like our wild west cowboy banter
You see the Injuns don’t understand our ways
They’ve all got chips on their shoulders these days
They just ain’t ready for civilisation

I’m the DC sheriff, I know right from wrong
I’m rough and tough and I carry a gun
Trouble, I’m the man to fix it
Like John Wayne I walk real tall
I line them suspects against the wall
Spit baccy in their faces and then I blow their brains out

So come all of you fireboys wherever you be
If you wanna stick around take a tip from me
Play it tough and hard and mean and just remember
Don’t ever let out that softer side
Don’t anybody ever let them see you cry
Just leave that sentimental stuff to the women

DC, Deputy County (Fire Officer)

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4. THE BLACKS ARE TO BLAME

I’m closing down your factories, your heavy industry
Ship yards gone, sent them overseas
Steel works, foundries, car plants too
I’m off to Indonesia, mate, don’t need you
Bye bye coal mines, mills all gone
If you wanna get a job, go to Saigon

Chorus

The blacks are to blame
They’re stealing your jobs
The blacks are to blame
They’re all lazy slobs
The blacks are to blame
If you’re signing on the dole
The blacks are to blame
If you’re living in a hole

Back home in Britain, real people power
Sexy, flexy, wages, three quid an hour
You don’t need muscle and brains no more
Working on the checkout in a Tesco store
Put three jobs together to get in the frame
Dump your kids on a scheme and your wife on the game

Chorus

I privatise your hospitals, I’m dumbing down your schools
I sacrifice the many in the interests of the few
Dog eat dog is the icon of the age
Fight the competition, get a living wage
Work yourself stupid till you drop down dead
And I’ll sit back and pull in the bread

Chorus

Roll out the tabloids, turn up the hate
Asylum seekers scrounging off the state
They’re flooding your country, they don’t give a toss
Send ’em back home, show ’em who’s boss
Gypsies, Kosovans, Muslims, Sikhs
Keep blaming each other and you won’t see me

Chorus

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5. I ONLY WANT TO BE ME

I can pretend I’m one of the team
I can suppress the feelings I feel
I can hold out, I can fit in
One thing won’t change is my skin

I can play white as the snow on the hill
I can play strong as a steel rolling mill
I can disguise what you don’t want to see
But I only want to be me

I’m one of the gang but I feel so alone
I put up a front but I’m all on my own
The jokes and the jibes are getting to me
Why won’t they just let me be?

Each morning I rise with fear in my heart
Drive into work and it tears me apart
I want to run, where can I hide?
I’m building a wall in my mind

What is so wrong if I don’t play your game?
What is so wrong if we don’t think the same?
Is there only one rhythm and only one song?
Do you have to be white to belong?

Is there a uniform under the skin?
Is there a rule book for letting me in?
This is a prison, who holds the key?
I only want to be free

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6. CURTIS McLARDIE

His name was Curtis McLardie
Had a dream when he was small
Gonna be a firefighter
When I grow up strong and tall, he said
When I grow up strong and tall

Don’t wanna be a railway driver
Don’t wanna be an astronaut
Wanna drive a big fire engine
That was his only thought, it was
That was his only thought

In the school room he learnt to read and write
In the school yard learnt to fight
Listened to his mother’s stories
She taught him wrong from right, she did
She taught him wrong from right

He signed on at the fire service
No time now for looking back
36 young men recruited that year
He was the only black, he was
He was the only black

To be a firefighter
Got to watch out for your mates
On your own, you’re in great danger
That old fire don’t discriminate, they said
The fire don’t discriminate

When the fire is burning down below
And the temperatures rising higher
Don’t let smoke get in your eyes
Move in, put out the fire, he said
Move in, put out the fire

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7. FIGHT BACK

Well, Mr DC Bramall said, “I’d rather be gay than black”
But black and gay firefighters didn’t appreciate the crack
“We can fit you in if you are white, male and straight
If you’re black, gay or a woman, I¹m afraid you’ll have to wait”

Chorus
If you’re gay, it’s go away
If you’re brown, don’t stick around
If you’re a woman, you’ll have to wait
But if you’re black it’s get back, it’s get back, it’s get back.

Too many times we knocked the door, the door’s slammed in our face
Too many times we tried to move, got pushed back in our place
Too many golden promises, too many sacred vows
Pie in the sky tomorrow, we want changes now

Chorus

So Helen went down to the union said, “What are you gonna do?”
Fire was burning in her eyes, “Will you see this battle through?”
She saw that union banner standing up against the wall
“An injury to one”, it said, “is an injury to all”

Chorus

So a victory was won that day and the union went on strike
And racists got the message, belt up and on your bike
And Mr DC Bramall got paid off with the sack
And he’ll think again before he says, “I’d rather be gay than black”

Chorus 2
So if you’re gay, don’t go away
If you’re brown, stick around
If you’re a woman, why wait?
And if you’re black, fight back, fight back, fight back.

If you wanna get up from off your knees, you gotta learn how to walk
If you wanna be calling some of the shots, you gotta learn how to talk
If you wanna be there to build a dream, you gotta learn wrong from right,
If you want your dreams to change the world, you gotta learn how to fight

Chorus 2

Helen, Curtis Mc Lardie¹s mother

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8. DOWN IN ALABAMA

Down in Alabama not so long ago
The back of the bus was where the blacks had to go
Rosa Parks said, “I’m telling you flat
I’m going in the front, got a problem with that?”

When suffragette women were fighting for the cause
Some folks said, “They shouldn’t break the law”
But they didn’t stay at home to iron their petticoats
The women went out and the women got the vote

Chorus

The rain on the hills trickles to the brook
The brook joins the stream and then they all link up
The stream joins the river and the river flows on
You can¹t stop the river when the river runs strong

When Nelson Mandela took on apartheid
They said, “He's a terrorist, lock him inside”
But the people kept singing that old rebel song
’Til Mandela was free and apartheid was gone

When Essex firefighters said, “No cuts!”
There were some who were saying, “Well, yes, erm, but”
So they put it to the vote, they went on strike
The only way to win is to get out and fight

Chorus

When David met Goliath on the battle ground
They said, “Go home, you¹ll never bring him down”
His sling went ping and the beast gave a roar
David touched the sky and Goliath hit the floor

Chorus
We had dukes, earls, kings, fascist dictators
Poll tax queens, bent legislators
When they get you down and all hope’s leaving
Don’t give up, don’t give up, don’t give up, get even!

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9. UNION BANNER

I walked out one fine May morning
I went to find our banner bright
For a hundred years that proud old standard
Has led the way through the darkest night

I pulled out that fine broad banner
I shook the dust from its fabric bare
Its colours bold though old and faded
Shone bright and clear in the morning air

How many times has that union banner
Been raised up high in the morning sun?
How many times have we marched beneath it?
Some battles lost, some battles won

So once again we raise our banner
And once again march for our rights
“Unity is strength” our slogan
Men and women, black and white

And as we walk beneath our banner
We chant and sing a union song
We are different, we are equal
Unity makes the union strong

Come all of you bold firefighters
Who every day must risk your lives
Don’t let flames of hate divide you
Don’t let smoke get in your eyes

I reached out to that union banner
I felt its fabric firm and true
I saw its many splendoured colours
Each one part of the FBU

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CREDITS

WRITING AND RESEARCH
Black and White in the Red was written as a collaboration between Dave Rogers and Fred Wisdom of Banner Theatre. Dave created the script and song lyrics and Fred composed the music.

PRODUCTION
Many thanks to Basil Gabbidon of Steel Pulse fame for producing this CD and bringing his many and varied musical knowledges to feed and nurture this musical collaboration. Also thanks to Ian Stratford of Zip Studios, Wolverhampton, who engineered this CD with great sensitivity and patience.

We would also like to thank Sami Scott who edited most of the sound recordings, Phil Minal who edited the rest and provided the use of his recording studio for the early recording sessions.

FIREFIGHTERS
Special thanks to all the firefighters, managers, union officials and control staff interviewed for this project and all the many other people in the fire service who helped with publicity, promotion, room hire and unloading the van!
Many of their voices are featured on this CD, including:
Paul Ahmed, P. Ashby, D. Blaney, Mat Brady, L. Bunman, Carl Calder, Jack
Deal, Barry Dixon, Dick Duane, Brian Frazer, Carol Fry, Martin Gallagher,
Pete Gallagher, Andy Gilchrist, Dave Glennis, Steve Godward, Samantha
Gordon, Paul Greaves, Keith Handscomb, Jagjit Hayer, M. Kennedy, M.Kirby
Mike Lawson, Steve Martell, Curtis McLardie, Helen McLardie, Micky
Nicholas, Carl St. Paul, Leroy Philpott, Bob Pounder, T.Richardson, P.
Rogers, Gari Savanu, Warren Simpson, Jagtar Singh, Carl Smith, Ronnie
Stanley, J.Stuart, J. Thomson, Tennison Turney, Graham Tranquada and
A.Watson.

DESIGN
Kevin Hayes

PHOTOGRAPHY
Timothy Allen - Front cover
Kevin Hayes - pgs.2,3,8+9,14,15,16
Courtesy of FBU CD Body and back cover.

SUPPORT
Thanks to the many Banner friends and supporters who made this project possible. These include: Joyce Canaan, Jacqueline Contré, Maggie Ford, Sophie Partington, Anne Marie Sweeney.

MUSICIANS
Thanks to the musicians who helped to make this CD, especially Andy Hamilton, the legendary sax player, who first worked with Banner on our 1986 album, REBELLION RAP, and who this time added other members of his band, the Blue Notes, to the mix.

Banner Musicians
Phil Minal - Drums, percussion
Dave Rogers - Lead vocals, backing guitar
Fred Wisdom - Guitars, backing vocals

Andy Hamilton and the Blue Notes
Andy Hamilton - Alto Sax
Andy Peat - Trumpet
Brian Alder - Double bass

Musicians
Pam Bishop - Concertina
Tim Hubball - Electric bass
Mat Taylor - Sax, penny whistle, clarinet
Scott Matthews - Slide guitar, harmonica
Lisa Burrell, Kay Williams, Alex Williams - backing vocals
John Johnson - Trombone
Sarah Richards - Drums and percussion,
for the first Banner tour of BLACK AND WHITE IN THE RED

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FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Thanks to the West Midlands, East England and North West Arts Boards for awarding Banner Theatre “Year of the Artist” funds in 2000/1 that enabled the creation of the show, Black and White in the Red. Thanks as well to the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and fire service management for supporting the touring of this show as an educational tool to combat racism within the fire service. And thanks finally to East England Arts Board, the FBU, the Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers Association and the fire service management for providing further funds that allowed this CD of songs and interview material, linked to a tour of fire stations in the East of England, to be made.

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More info:

The CD is available from Banner Theatre for £12 (£10 unwaged) plus £2 p&p

Banner Theatre's office is based at the
Oaklands Centre, Winleigh Road, Birmingham B20 2HN
Tel: 0845 458 1909
Or click here to send an email