COULDN'T GET AHEAD

Couldn't get ahead
I just couldn't get ahead

Come out of pub, the shop is closed
Come out of pub, Harry wants to know
When the next bus is
I said five or ten minutes
I had my change in my hands
The bus flashes past.
My hands are caught

Couldn't get ahead. I just couldn't get ahead.

In a week, earned money for month
Got all my jobs done
My eyelids were sick of it
Gist was I could sleep for a day?
But bad bills have no respect for a decent man's rest
Flopping on the doorstep
Outlined in color red

Couldn't get ahead. Just couldn't get ahead.

On an Asiatic plane with wings not of the grain
Toilet queue was endless
Couldn't get a beer
The hostesses were muslims
When I get in toilet,
Light flashes: "Return to seat."
I feared withdrawal
And I feared beer was making sludge of my head.

Couldn't get ahead. Just couldn't get ahead.

Now my problems are solved
It's a remedy of old
I pretend I'm blind you see
Put on some Armani clothes
And act like ET
Where I'm at is a cabbage patch,
no longer strewn with weeds
Have a Ghandi at me
Colour mags wish me well
No more, no get ahead.

Couldn't get ahead. Just couldn't get ahead.