Dark Cloud Rising
I wrote this song after seeing a documentary regarding the start of the financial crash in 2008. It was all about bankers giving out mortgages to householders who couldn't afford them. These sub-prime mortgages were then put in complex "financial wrappers" which were often not properly understood by the financiers who traded in them and eventually, when the householders defaulted on the mortgage, because of increasing interest rates, the bubble burst. However, the subject of the documentary didn't know anything about collateralized debt obligation or the gaussian copula formulas used to calculate risk. All he knew was that he was out on the street with his house, along with most of the other houses in the street boarded up and it was all the fault of the man who knocked on his door.
Chorus
There’s a dark cloud rising on the horizon
It's going to be a bad day
A chill runs through my bones
As they’re calling in my loans
The time has come for me to pay
When that man knocked on my door
He made me feel quite poor
‘Til he told me about my equity
He said “There’s money locked in your home,
I can offer you a loan”
And he was talking serious money
chorus
So I extended my home
Using part of my loan
And then I bought a shiny brand new car
I bought some suits of clothes
Had a holiday in Rhodes,
But my money didn’t quite stretch that far
chorus
So I used my credit card
To go that final yard
Didn’t realise the repayments would be that high
Then the man knocked on my door
And spoke to me once more
“Consolidate your debt and take some more besides!
chorus
Since I took out my loan
The interest rates have grown
So I decided to ask for more pay
I saw the boss down in the yard
He agreed that times were hard
And said “My business is going the same way”
chorus
Now the man who knocked on my door
Doesn’t come round anymore
He’s taken his commission and moved on
The bank has sold on my loan
And I’m left all alone
No home, no job, no shiny brand new car
chorus