Nobody Gives lyrics

Song information

Artist: Kinks
Album: Preservation: Act 2

Lyrics

Sung by the tramp

I can't understand why everybody's quarreling
Nobody gives in case they lose face
And everybody's guilty and everybody's innocent
And the fact of it is nobody gives any more

It's the same throughout all history
Nobody gives unless they receive
And nobody trusts or is willing to believe
And nobody gives or is willing to concede

Back in nineteen hundred and twenty-five
There were thousands of people struggling to survive
There was hunger, unemployment and poverty
Then in 1926 they decided to be free
So they all went on strike and
The workers told the unions, who blamed it on the government
The politicians blamed it on the strikers and the militants
Everybody's guilty and everybody's innocent
But the fact of it is nobody gives any more

Back in nineteen hundred and thirty-nine
There were scores of german military waiting in a line
And the fatherland wanted what the world wouldn't give
And then hitler decided he could take what was his
So they all went to war and said
Kill all the left-wing intellectuals
Annihilate the jews and wipe out their race
Eliminate the weak because they're ineffectual
And the fact of it is nobody gives any more

I'm only sitting here watching it all go on
And listening to both sides
Yeah, why can't we talk it out
Why can't we sort it out
We'll work it out if we try
Why can't we sit down and work out a compromise
Why not negotiate and try to be civilised?
I'll tell you why, because nobody gives a damn
Nobody listens and no one will understand
Yet I'm wondering, sitting here wondering
And listening to both sides
Why can't we work it out?
Why can't we sort it out?
We'll work it out if we try
Why can't we sit down and work out a compromise
Why not negotiate and try to be civilised?
I'll tell you why, because nobody gives a damn
Nobody listens and no one will understand
Yet, I'm wondering, sitting here wondering
Yet I'm wondering, sitting here wondering
Listening to both sides
Nobody gives, nobody gives, nobody gives

The workers told the unions who blamed it on the government
The politicians blamed it on the strikers and the militants
Everybody's guilty and everybody's innocent

Nobody gives. nobody gives a damn any more
The politicians, unions, workers and the militants
The fact of it is nobody gives any more