Citizen Fish are a ska punk band formed in 1989. Based around Bath, England… Read Full Bio ↴Citizen Fish are a ska punk band formed in 1989. Based around Bath, England, the original members were Dick Lucas (vocals/words), Jasper (bass), Trotsky (drums), and Larry (guitar). Following their first album, Free Souls in a Trapped Environment, Larry left the band and was replaced by Phil, who, along with Dick and Trotsky, had previously been a member of the seminal British punk band, the Subhumans. Jasper and Dick had previously played together in Culture Shock. In 2006 Silas replaced Trotsky, who is still playing with the Subhumans.

The band is known for their lyrics, which often make strong social and political statements, dealing with themes such as anti-consumerism, vegetarianism, questioning of the status quo, and the general encouragement of people to get along with one another.

It is rumored that the band Citizen Dick from the movie Singles is an homage to Citizen Fish and its lead singer.

In 2006 they toured with and recorded a split LP with punk band Leftöver Crack. This was the first Fish activity in recent years, as the members have been concentrating on Subhumans activity as of late (they did do a small East Coast/Midwest U.S. tour consisting of off-the-map bars and basements in the summer of 2005, much to the delight of dedicated fans).

Wet Cement
Citizen Fish Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

We went up to the buliding site/saw the building and the concrete piles/and
Watched them all working/building muscles and no-one smiled/we stood there and
Watched them/staring back in complete contempt/I'm building a building/signed
His name in the wet cement/we walked throught the cemetary/social tombstons in
Black and grey/someone had a bunch of flowers/talking sentiments felt okay/we
Stood in the shadows/feeling it was that time of day/when everything gloomy/
Hits the light as it fades away/we came to conclusions/knew that life was a
Paradox/so many illusions/kept alive till the old ones dropped/demolishing

Lifestyles/building up all the tower blocks/life is so sacred/why spend it all
In a man-made box?/we stared at the empty shells/passed a smile and then cried
Alot/while all this was passing by/no one stopped to see what they've got/they
Took it for granted/used the space for a parking lot/we'll kick off the real
World/allocating the beauty spots/industrial death camps/man made something
And then forgot/knew what it should look like/trod on nature and said "why
Not?"/but you cannot replace it/just take a photo and watch it rot/and bury

The feeling/til no-one knows what it really meant/got caught in a landslide/
And left a name in the wet cement

Overall Meaning

The Citizen Fish song Wet Cement is a critique of modern society and our relationship with the world around us. The first verse describes an urban setting where the singer observes construction workers building a structure, but no one is happy. The line "building muscles and no one smiled" suggests that there is no joy or fulfillment in the work being done. The singer then relates to this by metaphorically inscribing his name in the wet cement, positing that he also feels like a nameless, faceless member of society.

The second verse takes us to a cemetery where the singer observes people visiting graves and using flowers to express sentiment. However, the sense of gloom is palpable, and the singer relates this back to the paradox of life – that joy is often accompanied by sorrow. The singer then laments the destruction of natural spaces and the creation of "man-made boxes" in the form of high-rise buildings. They describe these structures as "industrial death camps" and posit that the beauty of nature should be valued and preserved.

Line by Line Meaning

We went up to the building site/saw the building and the concrete piles/and
We visited a construction area and observed the building and cement blocks.

Watched them all working/building muscles and no-one smiled/we stood there and
We witnessed the workers constructing without joy and stood still, observing.

Watched them/staring back in complete contempt/I'm building a building/signed
We stared back at the workers with anger and frustration, and then noticed someone signed their name in the wet cement.

His name in the wet cement/we walked through the cemetery/social tombstones in
We walked through a graveyard with dark-colored headstones.

Black and grey/someone had a bunch of flowers/talking sentiments felt okay/we
We saw flowers placed on a tombstone and felt comfortable speaking about emotions.

Stood in the shadows/feeling it was that time of day/when everything gloomy/
We were in the shadows, feeling as though it was a depressing time of day.

Hits the light as it fades away/we came to conclusions/knew that life was a
As the light faded, we arrived at the conclusion that life was a complex notion.

Paradox/so many illusions/kept alive till the old ones dropped/demolishing
Life is a contradiction and many delusions kept alive until death dismantled them.

Lifestyles/building up all the tower blocks/life is so sacred/why spend it all
Humans are building skyscrapers and other structures, but why waste life on materialistic creations?

In a man-made box?/we stared at the empty shells/passed a smile and then cried
Why confine ourselves in a human-made container? We stared at the empty, hollow buildings and expressed mixed emotions.

Alot/while all this was passing by/no one stopped to see what they've got/they
While all this was happening, people neglected to appreciate what they have.

Took it for granted/used the space for a parking lot/we'll kick off the real
They disregarded what they had and used the area for a parking lot instead. We will start the true enjoyment in the beauty spots.

World/allocating the beauty spots/industrial death camps/man made something
We will allocate the beautiful areas of the world while lamenting the industrial factories that humans constructed.

And then forgot/knew what it should look like/trod on nature and said "why
Humans then disregarded their creation and walked over nature as if it were nothing.

Not?"/but you cannot replace it/just take a photo and watch it rot/and bury
One cannot replace nature. One can only take a picture and watch as it decays, ultimately leading us to bury the memory.

The feeling/til no-one knows what it really meant/got caught in a landslide/
We concealed the emotions until they became incomprehensible and got swept up in the landslide of life.

And left a name in the wet cement
We left our mark, the only evidence of our existence, in the wet cement.

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS

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