I'm asleep on a train on the Zone 2 boundary
Awoken by the weary sigh of a ticket guy
Placating some 'young lady' by his side
I was late, I was tired and I lost my Oyster card
He's coming on with all this tired bureaucracy
When all I need is empathy and sleep
On the street nothing's changed since the 1990s
(You've changed, you're so much older)
Oh, I haven't changed since '99
(Well I've seen your suit)
I've still got my paperround
When I get to my desk I'm a different person
(That's a conscious choice you made though)
I'll manage risks and strategies
(Is that enough?)
Yes, as long as I get paid
I'm a painter, always painting lies
It was all fine
Til a man in a street said that what you've done there is just
I've no desire to go too far and
Led astray by the city ways and
Cross the line I don't know why but I always try for the last word When you know the last word's mine
As a kid I would run through the fields and orchards
(What about your hayfever though?)
I'd climb the branches to the top
(What with your vertigo?)
Look I'm making all this up
I've a dream of a house with the perfect garden
(Yeah, you and a thousand of others)
The pebble dash and the crazy pave
(And a 4x4?)
Nah, we'd cycle every day
I'm a carpenter
Chip away at dreams
Til a bartender
Said that one of these days all your cycnical ways will just
I've no desire to go too far and
Led astray by the city ways and
I don't know why but I always try for the last word
When you know the last word's mine
I'd swap some sleep for a fixed emotion
A G&T and some suntan lotion
A bag of chips in a seaside coast town
An empty seat on the underground and
A basement club where there's space for dancing
A conversation that's life enhancing
A sudden twist that I'm not expecting
A novelette with a cryptic ending