Every time you pick up a newspaper
Every time you switch on the T.V.
You can bet your old boots that at some point you'll see
A high ranking Garda or else a T.P.
Calling on all who are meant to be free
To stand up and defend law and order

It's illegal to rip off a payroll
It's illegal to hold up a train
But it's legal to rip off a million or two
That comes from the labour that other folk do
To plunder the many on behalf of the few
Is a thing that is perfectly legal

It's illegal to kill off your landlord
Or to trespass upon his estate
But to charge a high rent for a slum is okay
To condemn two adults and three children to stay
In a hovel that's rotten with damp and decay
It's a thing that is perfectly legal

If your job turns you into a zombie
Then it's legal to feel some despair
But don't get agressive and don't get too smart
For Christ's sake don't upset the old applecart
Remember you boss has your interest at heart
And it grieves him to see you unhappy

If you fashion a bomb in your kitchen
You're guilty of breaking the law
But a bloody great nuclear plant is okay
And plutonium processing hastens the day
This tight little isle will be blasted away
Nonetheless it is perfectly legal

It's illegal if you are a traveller
To camp by the side of the road
But it's proper and right for the rich and the great
To live in a mansion or own an estate
That was got from the people by pillage and rape
That is what they call a tradition

It's illegal to kill off your missus
Or put poison in your old man's tea
But poison the river's the seas or the skies
And poison the minds of a nation with lies
It's all in the interest of free enterprise
Nonetheless it's perfectly legal

Well it's legal to sing on the telly
But make bloody sure that you don't
To sing about racists and fascists and creeps
And those in high places who live off the weak
And hose who are selling us right up the creek
The twisters, the takers, the conmen, the fakers
The whole bloody gang of exploiters