He met the world as a Dalkeith boy
Raised from a shaft at Monktonhall
In a well oiled cage
That locked away his dreams
An '85 veteran face from the gallery
A ghost from the civil war in the family

He stood his ground on the picketline
Till all that he was left with
Were his father's cough
And his mother's eyes
That would hold a tear
For the very first time
When the government took his job away
Now fist in hand he'll stand in line
Declare his name and mark his time
To some the only proof that they're alive

He could have been you
He could have been me
He could have been anybody
But he was born lucky

He made his first down payment
On a sharp Italian suit
He sewed razor blades into the lapels
See him sweating on the dance floor
Cool dust oozing out of every pore
A hard man with a hard life
And that's a story that he'll tell you
Down at Easter Road till his throat is raw
On a Saturday, he knows the score
Till the whistle blows and
The colours with their tempers fade away

He could have been you
He could have been me
He could have been anybody
But he was born lucky

On the helipads at Aberdeen
Bound for platforms drilling oil rich seas
Where the trawlers are getting fewer every year
By the furnaces at Ravenscraig
By the padlocks holding John Brown's gates

In the desert, in the fields of South Armagh
Where the poppies grow
Behind the Hampden roar
Behind the drums in Genoa

On the deck that rides a South Atlantic swell
Born to fight out of the tightest corner
You can bet on him with the odds against you
They'll not put him down
No matter how they try
I watch the TV every night
I stay awake by satellite
I hope and pray the nightmares
Stay away today

An oily shroud on a coral reef
A black cloud's hanging over me
When I hit on the remote
The programmes stay the same
Credo, credo, credo, credo

An assegai slick with sweat and blood
A shotgun barks at a rabid dog
A shallow grave hugs a highway
Beneath a bleaching sun

Credo, credo, credo, credo
It don't mean nothin'; it don't mean nothin'
It don't mean nothin'; it don't mean nothin' to me

When cancer sucks a young girl's breast
When a company chains a young man's soul
When the coal dust stole
My grandad's breath away

A tattered tramp tacks a windy wynd
To close a crowded circle a brazier's light
A man becomes a mountain, in the falling snow
A mother screams and a baby cries
The memory gone before the blood has dried
A needle pricks the conscience
To help it fade away
The more you scream, the less you hear
Or that's how it used to be
But I just can't tell the difference
Anymore these days

The open lips of an altar boy
A planet spins in a silent void
The options are ever fewer
On the ground these days

Listen to me
Just hear me out
If I could have your attention
Just quieten down for a voice in the crowd
I get so confused and I don't understand
I know you feel the same way you've always wanted to say
But you don't get the chance
Just a voice in the crowd

I don't know the score anymore
It's not clear anymore
I can't tell right from wrong anymore
I just don't understand
I was sitting here thinking of exchanging a new world for old
Like changing the channels on TV
Or the dirt that we stand in to gold

When I was young
My father told me just bad guys die
At the time just a little white lie
It was one of the first but it hurt me the most
And the truth stung like tears in my eyes
That even the good guys must die
There's no reasoning no crimes and I never knew why
Even now it still makes me cry

If there's somebody up there, could they throw me down a line
Just a little helping hand, just a little understanding
Just some answers to the questions that surround me now
If there's somebody up there, could they throw me down a line
Just a little guiding light to tell wrong from right
Just some answers to the questions that I'm asking you
I keep a vigil in a wilderness of mirrors
Where nothing here is ever what it seems
You stand so close but you never understand it
For all that we see is not all that it seems, am I blind?

And you sit there and talk revolution
But can you tell me just who's in command?
When you tell me the forces we're fighting
Then I'll join you and gladly make plans
But for now only our t-shirts cry freedom
And our voices are gagged by our greed
Our minds are harnessed by knowledge
By the hill and the will to succeed
And if that's not what you believe
Would you just let me know
I'm not standing alone
That I'm not just a voice in the crowd

If there's somebody up there, could they throw me down a line
Just a little helping hand, just a little understanding
Just some answers to the questions that I'm asking you
If there's somebody up there, just throw me down a line
Just a little guiding light to tell wrong from right
Just some answers to the questions that I'm asking you
I'll keep a vigil in a wilderness of mirrors
Where nothing is exactly how it seems
You're reaching out, you're so close you can touch it
But it all disappears when it's always so near
But one day we will find that we stand in the light
Until then I'll keep a vigil in a wilderness of mirrors
Nothing here is ever what it seems
I'm scared to shout in case I draw attention from the powers
That preside over our minds and our lives
When they find what I want is the deadliest weapon, that is truth

Day by day it's getting louder
And day by day it's getting stronger
But when I can't scream no more and I need reassurance
I listen to the crowd

And the boy stood and stared at the hill
And the hill - it stared back