Well a teacher of mine once told me that life was just a list
Of disappointments and defeats, and you could only do your best
And I said "Well that's a fucking cop-out, you're just washed up and you're tired
And when I get to your age, well, I won't be such a coward"
But these days I sit at home, known to shout at my TV
And punk rock didn't live up to what I hoped that it could be
And all the things that I believed with all my heart when I was young
Are just coasters for beers and clean surfaces for drugs
And I packed all my pamphlets with my Bibles at the back of the shelf

Well it was bad enough the feeling, the first time it hit
When you realised your parents had let the world all go to shit
And that the values and ideals for which many had fought and died
Had been killed off in the committees and left to die by the wayside
But it was worse when we turned to the kids on the left
And got let down again by some poor excuse for protest
Yeah by idiot fucking hippies in fifty different factions
Who are locked inside some kind of '60s battle reenactment
And I hung up my banner in disgust and I head for the door

Oh, but once we were young
And we were crass enough to care
But I guess you live and learn
We won't make that mistake again, no
Oh, but surely just for one day
We could fight and we could win
And if only for a little while
We could insist on the impossible
Well we've been a good few hours drinking
So I'm going to say what everyone's thinking
If we're stuck on this ship and it's sinking
Then we might as well have a parade
Cause if it's still going to hurt in the morning
And a better plan's yet to get forming
Then where's the harm spending an evening
In manning the old barricades?

So come on, old friends, to the streets
Let's be 1905, but not 1917
Let's be heroes, let's be martyrs, let's be radical thinkers
Who never have to test drive the least of their dreams
Let's divide up the world into the damned and saved
And then ride to the valley like the old Light Brigade
And straighten our backs, and we won't be afraid
And they'll celebrate our deaths with a national parade

So come on, let's be young
Let's be crass enough to care
Let's refuse to live and learn
Let's make all our mistakes again, yes
And then darling, just for one day, yeah
We can fight and we can win
And if only for a little while
We could insist on the impossible
Leave the mourning to the morning
Yeah, pain can be killed
With aspirin tablets and vitamin pills
But memories of hope, and of glorious defeat
Are a little bit harder to beat