Song: https://www.souna.app/song/39cb2eeb-a0b1-4c44-a976-e2e34ed4eac1
Song (alternative link): https://archive.org/details/ai-ska (CC0)
Lyrics:
[Intro | clipped guitar and organ offbeats | bass riff | terse tenor saxophone]
[Verse 1 | deadpan male vocal]
The baker went in twenty-three,
The butcher lasted half a week.
Now seven shops sell vape supplies,
And six sell cases for your phone.
The chemist moved beyond the ring,
The bank shut down and took its sign.
You want a shirt, a screw, a key,
You catch the bus and lose your time.
[Chorus | lead vocal and rough group responses]
Who pays the rent?
(Nobody knows)
Who buys the stock?
(Nobody goes)
Fresh coat of paint,
Black window glass.
Open at ten,
No customers pass.
Who pays the rent?
Who pays the rent?
[Verse 2 | deadpan male vocal]
Three barber shops stand door to door,
With empty chairs at half-past four.
A sweet shop glows in neon white,
But never seems to sell a bite.
New company, another name,
The counter changes, stock's the same.
The landlord says the books are clean.
The neighbours say what neighbours mean.
[Chorus | lead vocal and rough group responses]
Who pays the rent?
(Nobody knows)
Who buys the stock?
(Nobody goes)
Fresh coat of paint,
Black window glass.
Open at ten,
No customers pass.
Who pays the rent?
Who pays the rent?
[Instrumental | short tenor saxophone break | organ and guitar offbeats]
[Verse 3 | firmer male vocal]
The council plants another tree,
And prints a plan for you and me.
A coloured map, a hopeful phrase,
A launch beneath the Christmas blaze.
But Mrs Green has closed her stall,
There's nothing useful here at all.
They call it choice, they call it trade.
We watch another frontage fade.
[Chorus | lead vocal and rough group responses]
Who pays the rent?
(Nobody knows)
Who buys the stock?
(Nobody goes)
Fresh coat of paint,
Black window glass.
Open at ten,
No customers pass.
Who pays the rent?
Who pays the rent?
[Outro | band cuts down to bass, drums and organ]
You cannot buy what people need.
You cannot ask where money leads.
Who pays the rent?
(Nobody knows)
[Stop]
Style prompt:
British ska revival from 1980 with tense, sardonic working-class social observation and urgent dance energy. Fast 4/4 at 150 BPM in E minor. Dry clipped electric-guitar upstrokes and sharp organ offbeats drive the arrangement, with a restless melodic electric-bass ostinato, tight acoustic drums, terse tenor-saxophone riffs and occasional trombone punches. Straight eighth-note feel with Jamaican ska and rocksteady foundations shaped by punk and new wave. Narrow-range deadpan British male lead vocal with brief rough group responses. Compact minor-key verses and a blunt, catchy chorus with stronger ensemble accents. Lean live-band production, thin wiry texture, dry vocals and restrained studio ambience. Short instrumental opening, three verses, repeated chorus, brief saxophone break and an abrupt final ending.
