[Chorus: Alex Kapranos]
Collaborations don't work
They don't work, they don't work
Collaborations don't work
They don't work, they don't work
Collaborations don't work
They don't work, they don't work
I'm gonna do it all by myself
I'm gonna do it all by myself

[Chorus: Russell Mael]

[Verse 1: Alex Kapranos & Russell Mael]
Mozart didn’t need a little Hadyn to chart
Warhol didn’t need to ask De Kooning about art
Frank Lloyd Wright always ate à la carte
Wish I had been that smart
Wish I had been that smart

[Chorus: Russell Mael]

[Verse 2:]
[Russell Mael:]
Collaborations don't work
You start off deferential
[Alex Kapranos:]
And strangely reverential
You both feel it's essential
[Nick McCarthy:]
Collaborations don't work
He's eyeing your new lover
[Bob Hardy:]
Then one night you discover
Them underneath your covers
[Verse 3:]
[Alex Kapranos:]
Collaborations don't work
Delaying your vacations
[Russell Mael:]
To sun-drenched island nations
To seek some affirmations
[Ron Mael:]
Collaborations don't work
A colon or a comma
[Paul Thomson:]
And then a drawn-out drama
Bring in the Dalai Lama

[Bridge: Alex Kapranos & Russell Mael] x2
Where is this damn thing a-going?
Where is this going, someone tell me
Starlight, rub off on me
Star bright, rub off on me

[Verse 4: Alex Kapranos & Russell Mael]
I don't need your patronizing
I don't need your agonizing
I don't need your navel gazing
I don't get your way of phrasing
I don't think you're really trying
What, pray tell, are you implying?
[Verse 5: Alex Kapranos]
I ain't no collaborator
I am the partisan
Rebel in the rocks with dirty trousers, broken pistol in the hand
I ain't no collaborator
Hack my scalp if you think I am
I am a sadistic young usurper, a hand on your neck
Hand on your lover, oh, give the man a hand
I ain't no collaborator
I ain't no collaborator
I am the bastard, independent
If I ever need a father, it won't be you, old man

[Chorus: Alex Kapranos]

[Chorus: Alex Kapranos & Russell Mael]

[Outro]