UB40

Released: September 27, 1982

Songwriter: UB40

Producer: UB40

A misfit who is old before his time
Poverty has turned him to crime
Boredom gives him too much time to think
He pours another drink

(chorus)
A burning, bitter taste of irony
A prisoner in the land of the free

He wonders why his landscape looks so strange
Burger bars are home on the range
An empty bottle falling from his hand
He does'nt understand

(chorus)
A burning, bitter taste of irony
A prisoner in the land of the free

A cork unlocks the door to other lands
Of battles won and destinies in hand
A half-remembered state of liquid dreams
Where things aren't what they seem

(chorus)
A burning, bitter taste of irony
A prisoner in the land of the free

A naked savage dressed in shirt and jeans
A burning, bitter taste of irony
A prisoner in the land of the free

(chorus)
A burning, bitter taste of irony
A prisoner in the land of the free

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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