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
Cross the line
I've no desire to go too far and
Cross the line
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
Cross the line
I've no desire to go too far and
Cross the line
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
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 s***e for dancing
A conversation that's life enhancing
A sudden twist that I'm not expecting
A novelette with a cryptic ending
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
Cross the line
I've no desire to go too far and
Cross the line
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
Cross the line
I've no desire to go too far and
Cross the line
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
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 s***e for dancing
A conversation that's life enhancing
A sudden twist that I'm not expecting
A novelette with a cryptic ending