Race to the Bottom

Sliding along by the Seine, it's May Day This song's in my head once again It's a long way down to the bottom we've been racing Coughing my lungs up on Rue des Irlandais Becoming a risk to myself It's a long way down to the bottom and we're racing The radio silence and the anarchists Are gathering names, dates and lists for burning It's a long way down to the bottom That we've been racing Oh, how you move me, but truly Oh, how you set my heart aglow I'm shadowing in with the crowds unnoticed Somebody painted an X on my back It's a long way down to the bottom And we're racing Piss on the streets after dark in Paris Even on dear Joan of Arc, she knows It's a long way down to the bottom And we've been racing Even the gods as they gaze down on us Know that there's no one to be saved among us They keep turning away Turning away We're singing along with the righteous people The bullets will rain down from the mosques and steeples They keep turning away Turning away A taste for the wine and a woman's forgiveness Her man's in decline; oh, it's a nasty business It's a long way down to the bottom that we've been racing Our blood is no thicker than this water, my brother You'll find out soon, one way or the other It's a long way down to the bottom That we've been racing Even the clouds that send the rains down on us See a horizon that goes way beyond us They keep drifting away, drifting away While down in the dark in the tick tock alleys Time's running out and there's still bills to tally We keep chipping away, chipping away Sliding along with the bouquinistes Baldwin and Brecht and the distance between us It's a long way down to the bottom That we've been racing I'm rising up strong like a snake that's charmed A handsome Parisienne on my arm It's a long way down to the bottom That we've been racing