Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset

And put it in the attic with the Emperor’s old clothes

When did it fall apart? Sometime in the ’80s

When the great and the good gave way to the greedy and the mean

Britain isn’t cool you know

And it’s really not that great

It’s not a proper country

It doesn’t even have a patron saint

It’s just an economic union

That’s past its sell-by date

Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset

And ask our Scottish neighbours if independence looks any good

’Cos they just might understand how to take an abstract notion

Of personal identity and turn it into nationhood

Is this the nineteenth century

That I’m watching on TV?

The dear old Queen of England

Handing out those MBEs

Member of the British Empire

That doesn’t sound too good to me

Gilbert and George

Are taking the piss, aren’t they?

Gilbert and George are taking the piss

What could be more British than

‘Here’s a picture of me bum’?

Gilbert and George are taking the piss

Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset

And pile up all those history books but don’t throw them away

’Cos they just might have a clue about what it really means

To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in England dot co dot UK