Word Gets Around
Live - 1997 - Debaser id 93827

I get camping eys in the final hour
last minute shoppers picking cauliflower
the fuss they make you'd swear they were buying a car
always moan moan it's not so cheap cheaper still
cheaper still down the streets
I lose my rag and tell them take your bag and shop down there
closing down
closing down
Another road one way system steals the show
mac the knife swigs a can and sings the day away

There's more life more life more life in a tramp's vest
flowers man sits down in the street surrounded by stock
he bought back last week
bring back the ladies wearing lipstick on their teeth
make up we make up a crappy joke sit back relax and have a smoke
Mac the knife swigs a can and sings the day away
There's more life more life more life in a tramp's vest

Standing at the bus stop
with my shopping in my hands
when I'm overhearing elderly ladies
as the rumours start to fly

Hear them in the school yard
in the scrap yard
in the chip shop
in the phone box
in the pool hall
at the shoe stall
every corner turned around

It started with a school girl
who was running
running home to her mam and dad
told them she was playing
in the change room
of her local football side
They said tell us again
she told them again
they said tell us the truth
I find it hard to believe
cause he taught our Steve
he even trained me
taught Uncle john
who's a father of three

CHORUS

It only takes one tree
to make a thousand matches
only takes one match
to burn a thousand trees

You see it in the class room
in the swimming pool
where the match stick men are made
at the scouts hall
at the football
where the wise we trust are paid
They all honour his name
he did a lot for the game
he got his name knocked up
above the sports ground gates
Now they're ripping them down
stamping the ground
picture gathers dust
in the bar

CHORUS

Wake up and smell the rain
shake up he's back to stay
he hasn't been on a holiday
growing seeds don't believe
why he's been away

In the school yard
change room
playing fields
bathroom
phone box
office blocks
corners turned around
They keep doubting the flame
tossing the blame
got his name knocked up
above the sports ground gates
Now they're ripping them down
stamping the ground
pictures gathers dust
in the bar in the lounge

CHORUS

We all face the same way
Still it takes all day
I take a look to my left, pick out the worst and the best
She paints her lip, greasy and thick
Another mirror stare, and she's going where?

Another office affair, to kill an unborn scare?
You talk dirty to a priest?It makes them human at least
But is she running away, to start a brand new day?
Or is she going home? Why's she driving alone?

Is anyone going anywhere?
Everyone's gotta be somewhere

She got a body in the boot, or just bags full of food?
Those are model's legs, but are they women's are they men's?
She shouts down the phone, missed a payment on the loan
She gotta be above the rest, keeping up with the best

Is anyone going anywhere?
Everyone's gotta be somewhere

Waits tables for a crook?
Wrote a hardback book?
You teach kids how to read?
Or sell your body on the street?
A nurse without a job?
Another uptown snob?
But have I got you all wrong?
One look and you were gone

Is anyone going anywhere? X 3
Everyone's gotta be somewhere

There's no mistake
I smell that smell
It's that time of year again
I can taste the air
The clocks go back
Railway track
Something blocks the line again
And the train runs late for the first time

A pebble beach
We're underneath
A pier just been painted red
Where I heard the news for the first time

And all the friends lay down the flowers
Sit on the banks and drink for hours
Talk of the way they saw him last
Local boy in the photograph

He'll always be 23
Yet the train runs on and on
Past the place they found his clothing

There's no mistake
I smell that smell
It's that time of year again
I can taste the air
The clocks go back
Railway track
Something blocks the line again
And the train runs late for the first time today

And all the friends lay down the flowers
Sit on the banks and drink for hours
Talk of the way they saw him last
Local boy in the photograph... today
He's gone away