Kilburn High Road

We were walking Kilburn High Road
For we’d nowhere else to go
We got talking to an old man
As we sheltered from the cold

He said “Young ones, don’t be foolish now
These streets aren’t paved with gold
Take some wisdom from an old fool
And turn round and go back home”

And we laid back in that cardboard city sunshine
All the vermin that we scratched became old friends
There were times I’d wake up shouting
“Alright, ma, I’m getting up”
She’d be calling me for school or mass
But there the dream would end

Well, Shamie he had 90 p
And I had 34
So we blew it on a horse that lost
At Kempton Park at four

But with luck we found a fiver
Just outside the seamans rest
So we bought a box of chicken wings
And two of Mundays best

And the buzz we got was famous
But we sobered soon enough
Then the old man’s words came back to me
When times got really rough

So we hitched our way to Holyhead
And we starved for three whole days
T’was like getting back from Gettysburg
By the time we reached Lislea

And we laid back in that cardboard city sunshine
All the vermin that we scratched became old friends
There were times I’d wake up shouting
“Alright, ma, I’m getting up”
She’d be calling me for school or mass
But there the dream would end