Driving Through the Desert

This is the place I got punched in the face

By another boy at school about the age of ten

I was a prissy little kid all smug and self-important

And too goody-goody by half

Having failed as a fighter, I tried to be a lover

In my own small way

Don't get me wrong, these are not the days to be screwing around at all...

Not if you can help it

Spent six years in an overcrowded manor

For disturbed adolescents in my fading teens

Haunted by the past and terrified by the future

The old man's words, I hasten to add

Driving through, driving through the desert

And the sun beats down

Driving through, driving through the desert

Where would we all have been without him?

This is the way we used to go to Wenden's Ambo

To cool off swimming after evensong

The place has hardly changed, only grown a little smaller

And quite a bit smarter since the estate agents came

And over there's the line of the old branch railway

You wouldn't even notice now that the cutting's been filled

Memories of tensing, correlations, celebrations

But most of all, we miss the river

It was many miles later just around that corner

That I met the King Pistol, as he used to be then

He said we had to gatecrash down at the Speakeasy

Seeing as neither of us could even stomach the place

Driving through, driving through the desert

And the sun beats down

Driving through, driving through the desert

Those were the kind of times we lived in

Driving through, driving through the desert

And the sun beats down

Driving through, driving through the desert

Fucking champagne socialists...

Another two hundred kilometers on

And the sun's getting higher in the sky

I can't remember when we last tasted fresh vegetables

Or drank cold water from a tap

Mirages shimmer in the distance

But I couldn't give a toss about that anymore

We've got enough gasoline to keep us going

Well into the next century

Still, this road carries on, carries on

Must end up somewhere, I suppose

And who needs water when we've got Castlemaine XXXX

And a king-size box of rubbers

Driving through, driving through the desert

And the sun beats down

Driving through, driving through the desert

Who knows when we might all arrive

Driving through, driving through the desert

And the sun beats down

Driving through, driving through the desert

Look out for that gully!

I think this is where I get off

(Driving, we are driving home) Hey! Hey!

(Driving, we are driving home) Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Driving through, driving through the desert

(Driving, we are driving home) Hey! Hey!

Driving through, driving through the desert

(Driving, we are driving home) Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Driving through, driving through the desert

And the sun beats down

(Driving, we are driving home) Hey! Hey!

Driving through, driving through the desert

(Driving, we are driving home) Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!