fake bird noises at the fast food drive through choices aren’t great, brother what can i do i see your read receipts are off, huh who is it that you’re lying to no finer signifier of a shit scene than a pair of designer ripped white jeans hollow pied piper, cus i followed my dreams quit my 9 to 5 job to sit and make memes cut teeth grown long, still sound green read between the lines son, you must feel seen took in the sights, beaches never pristine the tiki bars are filthy, chapels far from sistine hefeweizen nights and we called ‘em ice creams trans rights are human rights, we’re all human beans so let’s seize the day, let’s seize the means let’s smash it all to smithereens tear it up, tear it up fat boy better layer up shares down, weigh it up no god, send your prayers up tear it up fat boy better layer up shares down weigh it up it’s your boy oh shit what’s up …poly like a glot with bad diction an ink blot on your fan fiction constantly fraught, this is how i am living talk like a cop, raise no suspicion forced glottal stop, felt hoarse just listening par for the course, rain never stops pissing suck it and see, not gold but it glistens the big C beat in remission tear it up, tear it up fat boy better layer up shares down, weigh it up no god, send your prayers up tear it up fat boy better layer up shares down weigh it up it’s your boy oh shit what’s up tell em what’s up, tear it up tell em what’s up, tear it up son it’s time to stump up, tear it up have it all your own way, gazump every day is bin day when you live in a dump if your heart weighs a tonne, listen up chump let me let me yuck your yum

used to step out, now we’re staying in i couldn’t look you in the eye hung loose like a half cut grin sat pissed on the grass in some long summer passed all this is the past etched in grey you came back, i never went away the me that you seem to recall is so outdated why remember him at all won’t you say what you really mean i never could discern when you turn on your heels those home fires still burn for me you and me will never be the same as we were before first hurdle and i took the loss chips and cheese, curry sauce feet of clay, ears of cloth a half heard turn of phrase, rabid froth sliding doors, subtlety of a brick cry more, i gave you the ick pored over memories that tend to stick are when james e. scott was most a prick won’t you say what you really mean i never could discern when you turn on your heels those home fires still burn for me you and me will never be the same as we were before before even if i never see you again i’ll still wonder what it meant even if you never call me a friend the days we had dwarf the years since spent go on, let it go i’m just someone you used to know go on, let it go i’m not that someone that you used to know before

i wish i’d drifted instead of washing up on your shore mourn every moment i passed there when i pass yours you thought face to face with me might settle the score but i don’t drink in those kind of pubs any more i wish i’d drifted instead of washing up on this shore send flowers, roses, forget me nots … bourgeois folkways when everything’s recorded or saved memories like a sealed up sieve there’s more hours to relive than than there’s hours in the day wish i’d drifted i wish i’d remained drift wood the flot-sum of my parts, all effect, no natural causes the trial of man, i bear no crosses unsubtle digs in my out of office what’s a win without a few losses no struggle without beating the bosses no gods no masters no etiquette no manners no gods no masters no etiquette no manners no glory no glamour no hits no bangers no good grace… no manners we were out we were all out we went against the grain and the thrust of it saddle up take the reins if you can muster it a vulture pick over the guts of it a voyeur no matter what culture it is toppling statues, no matter who the sculptor is out of pocket, i pay union dues caught in a loop in the run out groove nothing to lose, looks like you already lost through the paper thin wall i still hear the coughs another year surviving the plague, we seen it off standing in another man’s grave, at what cost six feet under hard men go soft i’m spitting teeth, it leaves me seething with your tweets so shite i don’t even read em i don’t code for cheats, i don’t keep the receipts long pause in the speech, the trick’s to keep breathing don’t trouble yoursel’ trying to find any meaning we salted the earth then kid on that we’re keening everyone inside, everything shelved, we were quelled too many truths to know what we felt, every rumour dispelled with a face like your arse got skelped numb no feeling as we crawled out of hell, felt like nature was healing if we build back wrong it’ll ruin so what’s left to believe in for oursel’s we were bereaving as we crawled out of hell felt nature was healing no gods no masters no etiquette no manners no gods no masters no etiquette no manners no glory no glamour no hits no bangers no pre-drinks no afters no cheers no laughter no gods no masters no temps no staffers no flex no muscle no side gig no hustle no goss no fodder no case no longer no mates no hauners no grace your honour no gods no masters no scabs no plasters no paps no snappers no equity no halfers no gods no masters no etiquette no manners no good grace… i’ve got no manners

it takes standing still to stay in style it takes a village idiot to raise a child it takes a strong man to put it mild take a long hard look, make it worthwhile it makes me sigh with relief it’s a girl it makes me sick with the nerves, nearly hurl i turn inside out with the cringe toes curl seeing grown adults at disney world living in the moment soaked in cold sweat the present soon to be a memory tinged with regret to tire of life, no doubt … who’s the weariest? let’s fuck around and find out bleary eyes, period let’s fuck around and find out real life, what’s at stake real lies, truth to fake real talk, how do you take it real love, how do you fake it real life, aches and pains heal the addict, break the chain heel the beast, time to tame it real life, it’s what you make it it takes one beer to quench my thirst it takes a second beer to chase the first it takes a third beer to break the day’s curse nurse that fourth beer, well immersed a fifth beer? i could be coerced a sixth beer? i’m probably burst a seventh beer? a dreadful shout… but come on, let’s fuck around and find out lager lager sweetheart stout fuck around and find out real life, what’s at stake real lies, truth to fake real talk, how do you take it real love, how do you fake it real life, aches and pains heal the addict, break the chain heel the beast, time to tame it real life, it’s what you make it will we make it? what will we make it? wake up and start scrapping one normal day it’s all i ask… will never happen let’s fuck around and find out

i stood on hampden terrace and looked out across the lights on a place that once upon a time could take me by surprise i stood by the light and life statue in the early night the gloom that set in looms upon the disused brownfield sites and worst of all would be a face that still remembers me puts me in a time and place i’d rather leave behind worst of all would be someone that shares my history trips down memory lane, oh brother take me for a ride the more we try to grip, the more we loosen it i stood amid the ruins of the old victoria i stood by burnt down music halls that once were cinemas i stood in pub back rooms where there used to be a stage i wondered how ten years ago felt like a bygone age i stood amid the gravestones of cathcart cemetery i wandered through the terraces, i wasn’t there to grieve i stood upon a balcony above the river clyde from the ghosts that haunt me most there’s nowhere left to hide when i used to go out, i knew every one i saw now old boys give me lip like son are you still kicking a ball when i used to go out, you couldn’t cut me down to size now i keep my old head down, don’t check the corners of my eyes the more we try to change, the more we stay the same i leaned upon a window at the top of dumbreck court i watched the sir john maxwell school rotting without support i listened for the whispers of the faintly moving lips i stood beneath the river and i heard each of the drips i baulked at the green glow of the old polmadie burn i walked along the graving docks and watched the new tide turn i stood upon the cathkin braes and watched the city wake i felt the eastern suns rays warm me from an old heart ache and worst of all would be to cling on to those memories stuck in time and place that i’d rather leave behind and worst of all would be to hold on to my history trips down memory lane, i try to put them out my mind the more i dwell upon, it stops me moving on

this song, it’s your tune club goes off, it’s your room on shoulders, selfies with the crew get in there and make it all about you oh to be an NPC wallflower perks, couldn’t be me main character energy get in there and make it all about you the words on the page, make it all about you when you’re not centre stage, make it all about you the works of the greats, created for you to solely relate to take two, mate you must get in there and make it all about… the essence of the past, i suppose it’d have to be not madeleine cake but kraft cheesy pasta cackle all you like when i’m a state at the afters but hear me out as it fades, i’ll have the last of the laughter irony in spades, make it all about me bait the masters, throwing shade, make it all about me procrastinate with the world’s weight in the bin again like finnegan’s wake alpha male it through every mistake get in there and make it all about when i hate myself does it make love you less when i love myself do i love myself to death ran from the law, i am lambing it ran from my fate, peter panning it panning for fools gold then instagramming it scammed like a bored ape, instant face palming it gave it my best shot, licked the salt, i was slamming it it put me on the floor, like a laminate lifeless, no stamina, pan bread, inanimate life gives you lemons, by the balls, I’ll be grabbing it with tattooed fists was it worth the wait, was it, was it love and hate

sat up all night stayed in all day watched the dust fall, watched the dust fall soaked off the rust just for a buzz as the light fades, as the light fades in the moment does it mean something squint in the glare a little while after the laughter ends squint in the glare could call you up you’d pick up if i’m in luck what would i say, what would i say could drive around head up that town to pass the day, to pass the day in the moment does it mean something squint in the glare a little while after the laughter ends squint in the glare if i had turned the other way if i had turned the other cheek i never would have found the words to say i never would have found the breath to speak

i know you, you know me keep it lowkey our eyes don’t meet adopt that shady energy keep it 100 don’t make a scene i know you, you know me drinking deep in the pub or passing in the street listen son we’ve got history so i’m like, how’s your mother, how’s your sister been? don’t kid on you don’t know me don’t kid on you don’t know me don’t kid on you don’t know me i stuck a finger in his face and i said don’t kid on you don’t know me don’t kid on you don’t know me don’t kid on you don’t know me you’ve known me all along don’t kid yourself on you know me, i know you but you’re looking at muggins here like you don’t have a clue can’t be seen to be too astute the tales i tell about myself always contain a grain a truth yeah you know me, i know yous suddenly the best of friends when lips run loose listen brother, i’m not calling your bluff or stealing your thunder but i’m sorry do we know one another? don’t kid on you don’t know me don’t kid on you don’t know me don’t kid on you don’t know me i stuck a finger in his face and i said don’t kid on you don’t know me don’t kid on you don’t know me don’t kid on you don’t know me you’ve known me all along so don’t kid yourself on at the aftershow, don’t kid on you don’t know in the bar below, don’t kid on you don’t know at the art opening, don’t kid on you don’t know let’s not make it a thing, don’t kid on you don’t know you’re in a rush, i’m loitering, don’t kid on you don’t know you’re walking out, i’m walking in, don’t kid on you don’t know at the karaoke, singing for the lonely real ones know it’s legends only, so don’t kid on you don’t know me i know you, you know me gies a nod don’t appear to keen listen, i know you, you know me pull out all the stops once the lights go green i know you when the in crowd corrals we’re in a group chat, that doesn’t make us pals you know me, you must at least suppose we’re associates, we’re not mates, we’re not bros yes i know you, you know me the night has grown long, the shutters have drawn so look me once in the eye before this moment is gone don’t kid yourself on