UB40

Released: September 2, 1985

Featuring: Dillinger

Songwriter: Dillinger UB40

Producer: UB40

Why do you have to force yourself with power and control
Why do you have to live your life playing up a role
Intimidating people with your wall of sight and sound
You and your kind destroy our underground

All the happiness you destroy
All the brutal tactics that you always emply
All the fucking bullshit when will it ever stop
The comparison is obvious: you're a fucking cop

Officer - you act like an animal, you're out of control
Officer - what the hell is wrong with you
Wear a tie if you want to wear a uniform
Join the army if you want to conform

Tough guy asshole do what you can
Whatever you destroy we'll create it again

UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. UB40 have sold over 70 million records. The ethnic make-up of the band’s original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish and Yemeni parentage.

Their hit singles include their debut “Food for Thought”, “Red Red Wine” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. Both of these also topped the UK Singles Chart, as did the band’s version of “I Got You Babe”. Their two most successful albums, Labour of Love (1983) and Promises and Lies (1993), reached number one on the UK Albums Chart.

On January 24, 2008, it was announced that Ali Campbell would be leaving the group after 30 years. It was reported by some Birmingham newspapers on 13 March 2008, that Maxi Priest would be the new lead singer of UB40 and had recorded a cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” with the band.

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