I can see my teenage
father standing straight
on a desolate corner
in the shadow
of tentacled towers
by the red light of America
I imagine how his mother felt
when she heard that
her husband was dying
and that underground heroes
of the tarmac shooting smack
were blowing up worlds
and Damned out loud
he, can you tell me
how does it feel
yeah, tell me, can you imagine
for a second
doing anything
that you don't have to
well that's what I'm accustomed
to so hooray for me
<Interlude>
when I slept with stony
faces on the riverbank
my angeldevil reveller
shook me desperately in dying
I don't exactly
want to apologize for anything
and now we're all mad
and tangled in secret rooms
with roman candles
on an endless graveyard train
yeah, tell me can you imagine
for a second
doing anything
just 'cuz you want to
well, that's just what
I do so hooray for me
<Interlude>
yeah, I was dreaming through
the howzlife, yawning car black
when she told me
mad and meaningless as ever
and a song came on my
radio like a cemetery rhyme
for a million crying corpses
in their tragedy
of respectable existence
<Interlude>
tell me can you imagine
for a second
doing anything
just 'cuz you want to
well, that's just
what I do so hooray for me
oh, yeah, I'm not respectable
and never sensible
I've been incredible
so damned irascible and
I like the things
I do so hooray for me
cked down
and they put you first in line
And so you finally ask yourself
just how big you are
and take your place in a wiser
world of bigger motor cars
<Intelrude>
So Where the hell was Biggles
when you needed him
last Saturday
And where were all the sportsmen
who always pulled you though
They're all resting down
in Cornwall
writing up their memoirs
for a paper-back edition
of the Boy Scout Manual
See there! A man born