FAMILY

-New Model Army, 1987

Joey puts her make-up on really well

She looks cool in the flashing lights

And all the boys gossip about the shape of her legs

On these muddled up and drunken nights

And if it's all got to end up between the sheets

She can coo like a virgin dove

But really she just doesn't want to be alone

And if you want you can call that love

M6 southbound roadside cafe on a wild wet and windy night

There's a kid in a sleeping bag huddled in a corner, trying to beg a light

He's got mum and dad tattooed on his arm

From when he thought that that would make it alright

He's got hope and fear on his young boy's face

Another innocent taken to flight, saying

Give me some place that I can go

Where I don't have to justify myself

Swimming out alone against this tide

Looking for family searching for tribe

They said go, get out, we've got our own lives to lead

Now that water is thicker than blood

And every house is divided into single flats

With their very own little welcome rug

The shopping mall it is teeming with life

Fighting for the goodies on the shelf

But there's those funny old people on the escalators

Talking to themselves, saying

Give me some place that I can go

Where I don't have to justify myself

Swimming out alone against this tide

Looking for family searching for tribe

Well I survive on my own for a while or so

Upon a whim or a bottle of wine

Just trying to make sense of these new surroundings

I only changed my name a couple of times

Please take me back Joey, I'm really sorry

Can we try to make a happy home?

But she's gone with someone else and they're starting a family

Trying for a clan of their own, so

Give me some place that I can go

Where I don't have to justify myself

Swimming out alone against this tide

Looking for family looking for tribe