Children of the Sixties, Children of the Seventies

Children of the sixties

Children of the seventies

You're still here

You're not old

You talk as though you're old

But you're not old

I remember even back then I felt like I was getting old

But now when I see the photos from then

I look so young

Sitting cross-legged at Christmas parties

Such wide-eyed hope

That night we really felt we could change the world

We felt that anything was possible

Like after one more drink anything becomes possible

But in the morning we felt different

In the morning we came to our senses

Children of the sixties

Children of the seventies

What happened to us?

Now the kids are grown and they watch the TV list shows

Talking Heads talk Talking Heads

When Bono climbed off that stage

I wish he never got back up

I wish he walked off into the crowd with his cockatoo hairdo

On the dole dancing to Rio

With your umbrella out there

This isn't what you dreamed of

We gather round the radio

When we were unhappy

The song said it for us

I turn back to the typewriter and the cassettes

There's VHS, blank, Betamax

Now the cassette tapes are all wrapped around trees

Or lying in a charity shop

1981 Wasn't like 1980 or 1982

Each year had a different personality

We all moved to London

We all worked in Artprice

We all moved to London and lost a decade or two

Cried London tears

Politics got blunted until we felt shy about how principled we'd been

We gather round the radio

When we were unhappy

The song said it for us

We were so sure

We could change the world

Our principles escaping us like slow punches

My friends in the north

We got so drunk, so wasted

Reigned in by America

Infected by American angst

The smell of caps fading away

Flared and peaked with New Labour

How did we get to where we are now?

Tried finding an old letter you wrote

So full of passion, so full of fire

Like a stranger to yourself

It's time to rise up

You're still here

You're still the same person

Rise up

Inside you unwind

I will not be restricted

I will not accept this apathy

Every little decision you make changes everything

We've got so much to rebel against

They make it so good news becomes no news in no time at all

We gather round the radio

When we were unhappy

The song said it for us

We were so sure

We could change the world

Our principles escaped us like slow punches

Slow punches

Slow punches

Slow punches

Slow punches

Children of the sixties

Children of the seventies

We made the very mistakes we vowed we'd avoid

Breaking rules angrily

Then breaking rules quietly

Then breaking rules from within

Then not breaking anything

What would the person you were then

Think of the person you are now?

Conclusion of the foregoing