Operation Mincemeat - Useful

I imagined the medal they'd give me when this was all through
"You imagined the?"
Medals I know
"Right."
And then Winston goes
"Winston Churchill?"
We'd be lost without you
"Right, and where is this?"
The palace
"Of course"
And I'd bow and salute
The King knows we're the reason we've won
"The King's there is he?"
And there's so many medals
And the crowd they assemble and demand
To hear just what we've done

"And Mr. Churchill says?"
He says
Yes, it's all true,
Though you'd never believe it
They did what they could do
And thought you'd never see it
They worked and they prayed,
And it wasn't in vain.
They knew pain could be strength
And that strength could be pain
They forced enemy forces to fly
They banished the planes from the sky
And they did something useful

"Oh good, I'm dead."
"Oh god I'm sorry, what is wrong with me?"

Perhaps just a small plaque
Something tasteful and small
Nothing over the top
People don't stand and stop
'Cos just one look and their tears start to fall
"Oh Lord"
I can see it
With flowers, price of place in a garden
"A garden?"
Or a grand royal park
"Ah thank you"
And it's silver
"Gold"
And it shines
"Or dazzles"
Boldly!
And they'll see you did more than your part

For Hester who saved her nation
Yes! A timeless inspiration
"Jean!"
"You are!"
And they'll say it's all true
Though you'd never believe it
She did what she could do and though you'd never see it
She worked and she prayed,
And it wasn't in vain
She knew pain could be strength and that strength could be pain
She forced enemy forces to fly
She banished the planes from the sky
And she did something useful
"Yes, we've done good work"
And you can't ask the people who can do all of that to just go home and pace through the rooms of a flat
Feeling she's travelled right back to the start
Stuck at home with her mother feeling useless and smothering the light that kept out the dark

"But he won't talk to me. He hates me. I'm the last person he'd talk to"
"Apologised profusely, told him he was right all along that I'm a pointless little fool"
"You can do this, Jean. And we need you to."
"Okay I'll try."
"Even if dear Winston never finds out about it."
"So you're saying."

Medals?
"No medals."
No statues
No plaques
No flowers
For Hester and Jean?
I don't think that it's people like you or me that the crowds come to see
And if there's one thing I know
It's that I'm no good with things that need help to grow
I'm afraid I disagree
You've done a pretty good job with me
"Thank you"
I think that when people meet in the middle of a war, it feels like it means something more
So who needs a medal?
It's this that we keep fighting for
That we'll keep fighting for
And yes it was true
They'll say it's all true
Though they'll never believe it we'll do all we can do
They'll never see it
And they'll never see it
We worked and we prayed and it won't be in vain
And we'll keep on going even though they'll never know
We know pain can be strength and that strength can be pain
And we'll force all their forces to fly
We banish their planes from the sky
And they'll see that we were useful
And if they don't we'll know we're useful
What matters is that we did something useful

"Back to work, Miss Leslie"
"Yes, Ma'am"

Written by:
Zoe Roberts, David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson

Publisher:
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing

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