I think I’ve seen this one before The camera pans out to the skyline of New York Cut to a waitress down on her luck And too unrealistically pretty to work in that kind of dump In walks a handsome man, kind and aloof Who screen-tested well with women: 18 to 32 But when he says something he didn’t mean to say He’ll have to go running to the airport in the pouring rain But there’s a glitch in this reality Because you know how it ends After there’s enough B-Roll footage And money left for advertising So as the cast and crew go home Get the editors on the phone The studio said to wrap this one up The director calls, “cut!” Because love hurts Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard Every bridge built ends up getting burned But it seems less like reality than dreams Because no alarm can wake you up from that deep a sleep But in the 70’s there was still crime in the city Long before it was gentrified and made to look pretty Back when Sid and Nancy stunk up the punk clubs Screaming their lungs out, banging heads, shooting-up drugs But heroin doesn’t augur well with anger At least not for some anarchistic, nihilistic teenager But maybe there’s a reason Saint Valentine Is synonymous with the massacre of 1929 Because in the end she was found dead From a 5-inch blade in the Chelsea Hotel, 1978 And everyone swore that he did it After all he was “Sid Fucking Vicious” Though his knife didn’t match the description The coroner drew the conclusion That love hurts Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard And every bridge built ends up getting burned But I swear nobody cares They dive head-first into shallow water Blinded by ardour From loneliness or Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Jane Austen died with no paramour by her bedside While Anne Beverley tried to cure her son’s malady With opioids procured from a dark, dirty alley And Rockets Redglare could’ve been anywhere But he vanished from the police suspect list Even Romeo and Juliet don’t lie side by side After a double suicide Love hurts Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard Ask John Ritchie with the light bulb and the bright idea But it prevails because memory fails We bet against the odds and get shocked when we’ve lost Love hurts Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard Ask poor Nauseating Nancy with the dark, dead eyes But it seems more like reality than dreams Because no alarm can wake you up from that deep a sleep

Welcome to the experiment — it’s a placebo or a stimulant But I don’t want to begin up until the drugs kick in It’s long, long day — they’re all the same When you’re taking care not to edge too close to the precipice It’s a long way down so, I’ve been told Life can be a drag, it’s quick to get old You’re bound to cop some flak if you leave yourself exposed But you have to keep passing the open windows It can be tiring I guess, amusing yourself to death It’s pretty hard to return serve when they say, “everything is the worst” I’m terrified of silence, more than death, taxes or violence Go to church so I can sin, cheer if I lose and cry if I win It’s a long way down so, I’ve been told Life can be a drag, it’s quick to get old You’re bound to cop some flak if your leave your skin exposed But you have to keep passing the open windows So that you don’t eliminate your own map Then it hit me like a violent breeze Floating off the coast somewhere in the sea of trees I looked like immortality But it felt kind of temporary But if I’m entertained to death will I have any regrets? And should I pity for the dead or pity the ones still left? And it’s a long way down so, I’ve been told Life can be a drag, it’s quick to get old You’re bound to cop some flak if you leave yourself exposed But you have to keep passing the open windows

It was me who came carried the Black Plague Keep the sewer rats around so they could cop the blame Franz Ferdinand was just a pawn in my game When the war began that’s when I came out to play There are some who think I let Lazarus get away But he’s up there right now singing with the saints Arthur Miller and his salesman I got them too Sentenced to eternity in a padded room Call me anything you want to I ain’t got no name and no number You can’t see me, can’t touch me Hiding in plain sight in the sea of trees now And you don’t ever get to know All you know is some day you will run out of time Call me anything you want to I am the alpha and omega On a pale horse with my black robe and scythe Don’t even hesitate before I take a child’s life I’m only out here to do the Lord’s dirty work It’s just a job you don’t need to take it personal But I must admit there are times I revelled in the misery Like when those tyrant punks thought they could compete with me 4 horsemen, 4 winds and 7 trumpets play When clouds get dark you know that I’ll be on my way

Hanging up the washing, drying all my clothes Buried under paperwork, traffic going home I used to know nothing, now I know less than that Local anaesthetic, generalised dream Naked in the class, losing all your teeth Stimulants to wake up and depressants to help you sleep So they never come down Now this is just what we do Stay put but you just want to move Now don’t ever go outside So you can keep dreaming away Another brand-new day, step into the light Coffee in the morning, alcohol at night You used to get excited at the thought now your repulsed by the sight 15 milligrams make you lively as a stone Polyester girls, zombie check their phones Waiting for another hit of dopamine to unfurl and unfold So they never come down Now this is just what we do Stay put but you just want to move Now don’t ever go outside Keep wasting away your life What else is there to do? Lost my bearings in the Bermuda Triangle After I saw what Da Vinci saw at Jesus’ table I can’t tell what the psilocybin made me feel Spinning around like the petals on a Tibetan Prayer Wheel There’s no more seminal wars for young men to come of age Sit around waiting for some pseudo philosophical sage To arrest their minds and make them to transmute Telling them to get up But they never come down Now this is just what we do Stay put but you just want to move Now don’t ever go outside So you can Keep wasting away your life What else is there to do?