Ooooh you cannot reach me now
Ooooh no matter how you try
Goodbye cruel world it's over
Walk on by
Sitting in a bunker here behind my wall
Waiting for the worms to come
In perfect isolation here behind my wall
Waiting for the worms to come
Waiting to cut out the deadwood
Waiting to clean up the city
Waiting to follow the worms
Waiting to put on a black shirt
Waiting to weed out the weaklings
Waiting to smash in their windows
And kick in their doors
Waiting for the final solution
To strengthen the strain
Waiting to follow the worms
Waiting to turn on the showers
And fire the ovens
Waiting for the queers and the coons
And the reds and the Jews
Waiting to follow the worms
Would you like to see Britannia
Rule again my friend
All you have to do is follow the worms
Would you like to send our coloured cousins
Home again my friend
All you need to do is follow the worms.

From morning to night I stayed out of sight
Didn't recognise what I'd become
No more than alive I'd barely survive
In a word...overrun

Won't hear a sound
From my mouth
I've spent too long
On the inside out
My skin is cold
To the human touch
This bleeding heart's
Not beating much

I murmured a vow of silence and now
I don't even hear when I think aloud
Extinguished by light I turn on the night
Wear its darkness with an empty smile

I'm creeping back to life
My nervous system all away
I'm wearing the inside out

Look at him now
He's paler somehow
But he's coming round
He's starting to choke
It's been so long since he spoke
Well he can have the words right from my mouth

And with these words I can see
Clear through the clouds that covered me
Just give it time then speak my name
Now we can hear ourselves again

I'm holding out
For the day
When all the clouds
Have blown away
I'm with you now
Can speak your name
Now we can hear
Ourselves again

He's curled into the corner
But still the screen is flickering
With an endless stream of garbage to
...curse the place
In a sea of random images
The self-destructing animal
Waiting for the waves to break

He's standing on the threshold
Caught in fiery anger
And hurled into the furnace he'll
...curse the place
He's torn in all directions
And the screen is still flickering
Waiting for the flames to break

Welcome my son, welcome to the machine
Where have you been?
It's all right, we know where you've been
You've been in the pipe line filling in time
Provided with toys and scouting for boys
You bought a guitar to punish your ma
And you didn't like school
And you know you're nobody's fool
So welcome to the machine
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine
What did you dream?
It's all right, we told you what to dream
You dreamed of a big star
He played a mean guitar
He always ate in the steak bar
He loved to drive in his jaguar
So welcome to the machine

As you look around this room tonight
Settle in your seat and dim the lights
Do you want my blood, do you want my tears
What do you want
What do you want from me
Should I sing until I can't sing any more
Play these strings until my fingers are raw
You're so hard to please
What do you want from me

Do you think I know something you don't know
What do you want from me
If I don't promise you the answers would you go
What do you want from me
Should I stand out in the rain
Do you want me to make a daisy chain for you
I'm not the one you need
What do you want from me

You can have anything you want
You can drift, you can dream, even walk on water
Anything you want

You can own everything you see
Sell your soul for complete control
Is that really what you need

You can lose yourself this night
See inside there is nothing to hide
Turn and face the light

    What do you want from me

What shall we use to fill the empty spaces
Where waves of hunger gnaw
Shall we set out across this sea of faces
In search of more and more applause

Shall we buy a new guitar
Shall we drive a more powerful car
Shall we work straight through the night
Shall we get into fights
Leave the lights on
Drop bombs
Do tours of the east
Contract disease
Bury bones
Break up homes
Send flowers by phone
Take to drink
Go to shrinks
Give up meat
Rarely sleep
Keep people as pets
Train dogs
Race rats
Fill the attic with cash
Bury treasure
Store up leisure
But never relax at all
With our backs to the wall

It was just before dawn
One miserable morning in black '44
When the forward commander
Was told to sit tight
When he asked that his men be withdrawn
And the generals gave thanks
As the other ranks
Held back the enemy tanks for a while
And the Anzio bridghead was held for the price
Of a few hundred ordinary lives

And kind old King George sent mother a note
When he heard that father was gone
It was, I recall, in the form of a scroll
With gold leaf and all
And I found it one day
In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away
And my eyes still grow damp
To remember
That his majesty signed
With his own rubber stamp

It was dark all around
There was frost in the ground
When the tigers broke free
And no one survived from the Royal Fusiliers, Company C
They were all left behind
Most of them dead
The rest of them dying
And that's how the high command
Took my daddy from me

   --- instrumental ---

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from hell, blue skies from pain
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail, a smile from a veil
Do you you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts, hot ashes for trees,
Hot air for a cool breeze, cold comfort for change
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year
Running over the same old ground
What have we found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here

Heaven sent the promised land
Looks all right from where I stand
'Cause I'm the man on the outside looking in
Waiting on the first step
Show me where the key is kept
Point me down the right line
Because it's time
To let me in from the cold
Turn my lead into gold
'Cause there's a chill wind blowin' in my soul
And I think I'm growing old
Flash the readies
Wots..uh the deal?
Got to make it to the next meal
Try to keep up with the turning of the wheel
Mile after mile stone after stone
You turn to speak but you're alone
Million miles from home you're on your own
So let me in from the cold
Turn my lead into gold
'Cause there's a chill wind blowin' in my soul
And I think I'm growing old

Fire bright by candlelight and her by my side
And if she prefers we never stir again
Someone sent the promised land
And I grabbed it with both hands
Now I'm the man on the inside looking out
Hear me shout
Come on in
What's the news?  where you been?
'Cause there's no wind left in my soul
And I've grown old