[Verse 1]
It was 1962, I was two years out of school
When I got on board a boat that was bound for Liverpool
The day I went away, I remember it so well
Said goodbye to the North Wall, bid a fond farewell

[Verse 2]
When I got down to the smoke, it was 1963
I got a job doing meals on wheels 'round NW3
I was terrorising grannies for ten lousy bob a week
I was smashed and blacked and drunk and yawning in NW3

[Chorus 1]
In the filth and piss they lived in, they would sometimes hum an air
Or talk in tongues of madness, keeping time upon a chair
And for their wrists, a numbered tab
In Westminster morgue on a cold hard slab
When I was still a young man in NW3

[Verse 3]
Now I'm spent of love and rage and I'm going home again
Never did nobody wrong, never earned a decent wage
So thanks for sweet fuck all, once more look at the North Wall
Say goodbye to all of that and bid a fond farewell

[Verse 4]
At the top of the Pentonville Road, I watched the sun setting
The town spread out before me, looked beautiful to me
Away from all the sighing, the suffering and the dying
I dreamed of the future, the young and the free
[Chorus 2]
But the years they went by quickly. now I swear I won't return here
Where each day just bring me closer to that final misery
My kids will never scrape shit 'round here
I won't die crying in a pint of beer
Or eat their stinking meals on wheels in NW3