The Man On Your Street - The Happy Family

Now at last I’ve mastered

This business of living

Though I’ve lost my self-respect along the way

(For worms like me a small price to pay!)

Ambition was the road I sent my cars down

Full of application forms and guns

I scooped up what no-one else would stoop to

I turned men to methods one by one

Then again they loved me like a father

Then again I sheltered them from choice

(They were speechless so I used their voice!)

In my extensive garden sheltered from the world I’ve made my faithful wife and

daughter sit on benches in the rain awaiting me And although I’ve given them no

special incentive their one pursuit and hobby is to reflect credit on me

Now the world’s at the end of my tether

In a last ditch bid to get it together

I wake my wife in the night

And ask her is our life right?

But as her tired voice cracks

And she starts to pretend

I find myself at my own receiving end

Disappointment crowns my years like grey hair

And I’ve taught the world my point of view

(It's in the saddest part of you)

Better men than me have lost their freedom

When my measures made them lose their cool

Prizing head and heart will get you nowhere

When your word commands a ship of fools

Then again I’ve bred respect for virtue

Then again I’ve set the terms for vice

(My laws are simple and concise)

I arrange for my ivy green limousine to break down amongst holly trees and

seize a command performance from my beautiful daughter And as I commit this

unnatural act by the shores of Lake Geneva I contemplate the fact that blood is

much sexier than water

Now the world’s at the end of my tether

In a last ditch bid to get it together

I appoint Maria the queen

Of my happy office harem

But as I smell the fear in the memos she sends

I find myself at my own receiving end

After all I’m just the man on your street

In my cups I’m raking in my cut

(It's a never-ending glut)

When I’m patching up my reputation

I confess a simple man’s misdeeds

For the body in this robe of office

Shares its skin with everything that bleeds

Then again these powers have been my weakness

Then again I may not live for long

(While you think you need me I’ll be strong)

In the darkness of this hat I keep my head in ever-accelerating

Trains of thought are giving me a whale of time

And as I mint the tin gods that will succeed me

I cross your outstretched sweating palm with my portrait

Metal and sublime

Now the world’s at the end of my tether

In a last ditch bid to get it together

I remember my citizen’s rights

And call for professional advice

But as the cold phone croaks

'Can I help you my friend?'

I find myself at my own receiving end