Seen It All Before

Kerosene cafe is bringing in the mail
It's a fifty-fifty choice, pass go or go to jail
Can see her with the matches on the pavement in the rain
Glowing by the light of this southbound train
She's shouting, "Good Christian soldiers
Stamp their ration books with failure
And twinkle little Stalin's hung his hat upon my Nellie
You're gonna wish you had a Ford when your last breath comes
'Cos we never want for nothing 'cept a little freedom"

And I've seen it all before
And I've seen it all before

They brought me to the bars when I was fourteen
A sexy little girl and a seedy little magazine
They painted out my life, a page of black and white
'Cos there's no call for justice when you're dealing in spite
I landed on a tightrope on the hook line of a dare
A little ragged at the edges but not beyond repair
With a hole in every pocket and half a bag of tricks
But it was nothing that a tenner and a bullet couldn't fix

And I've seen it all before
And I've seen it all before

My money is on anger
They say the form is good
They say the odds are stacked
And this side of Birmingham's a good place to be
When they finally light the match

And I've seen it all before
And I've seen it all before

Just wait 'til they see me out on the front page
Just wait 'til they remember how they stroked this rage
Shining like a penny in the back slum gutter
Like a single note sonata in the train conductor's stutter
Make sure they get to see me when I'm hanging from the ceiling
Get each detail of exactly how they're feeling
These five have got the rights to the docu-soap shows
They'll buy the truth off for some doughnuts and a sweet red rose

And I've seen it all before
And I've seen it all before

My money is on anger
They say the form is good
They say the odds are stacked
And this side of Birmingham's a good place to be
When they finally light the match

And I've seen it all before
And I've seen it all before