Song Lyrics

[Chorus:]
I was an English boy
I was brought up right
You cold hold me down
And I would bite
I knew no fear
I served with joy
I was proud to be here
An English boy

You spray like a tomcat
Piss like a stray dog
Swear like a sailor
Speaking in gang tongues
Kicking in chorus
Stabbing to order
Slashing like a blind man
Lost like a soldier

[Chorus]

Blurred like a movie
Gray under streetlights
Gray in the sunshine
So black on the tube line
Red on the touchline
Moving like a fever
Spreading like an oil slick
Thicker than a house brick

[Chorus]

And I don't know where I am now
Or where I'm gonna go
I keep going round and round on the circle line
Like some demented kind of commuta
Trying to avoid paying for my ticket
I'm a lost soul
I read about myself in the newspapers
I'm a pig
I'm a thug
I've got nowhere to go but down

(guitar solo)
Stand up, when I'm talking to you boy
Stand up, when I'm talking to you boy
Stand up, stand up, stand up!
Stand up!
(etc)

Slow like a prejudice
Broken like hatred
Kicking at a dead man
Cut pieces to pieces
Marking your territory
Freezing the future
Stopping the stopwatch
I am despairing

[Chorus]

I was an English boy
yes I was
I was an English boy
(repeat 7 times)

Pete Townshend