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The Only Living Boy in New Cross Lyrics
Hello, good evening welcome
To nothing much
A no holds barred Half Nelson
And the loving touch
The comfort and the joy
Of feeling lost
With the only living boy in New Cross
Fill another suitcase
With another haul
Of hotel towels and toothpaste
And the bathroom wall
Then wipe the lipstick hearts and flowers
From the glass and chrome
Take five or six hot baths and showers
And come on home
Come on home
To the comfort and the joy
Of feeling lost
With the only living boy in New Cross
I've teamed up with the hippies now
I've got my fringe unfurled
I want to give peace, love and kisses out
To this whole stinking world
The gypsies, the travelers and the thieves
The good, the bad, the average and unique
The grebos the crusties and the goths
And the only living boy in New Cross
Eyes down and I'll keep you up to date
Two fat ladies in 1988
The safe sixteen lovers who lied
Purley's queen and mother makes five
Butchered bakers, deaf and dumb waiters
Marble Arch criminals and clause 28ers
Authers, authors, plastered outcasts
Locked up daughters and rock and roll stars
Goodbye Rudy, David and Rosie
Abraham and Julianne
And everyone that knows me
The gypsies, the travellers and the thieves
I'm talking about the good, the bad, the average and unique
The grebos the crusties and you and I
Hello, good evening, welcome
And goodbye
To nothing much
A no holds barred Half Nelson
And the loving touch
The comfort and the joy
Of feeling lost
With the only living boy in New Cross
With another haul
Of hotel towels and toothpaste
And the bathroom wall
Then wipe the lipstick hearts and flowers
From the glass and chrome
Take five or six hot baths and showers
And come on home
Come on home
To the comfort and the joy
Of feeling lost
With the only living boy in New Cross
I've got my fringe unfurled
I want to give peace, love and kisses out
To this whole stinking world
The gypsies, the travelers and the thieves
The good, the bad, the average and unique
The grebos the crusties and the goths
And the only living boy in New Cross
Two fat ladies in 1988
The safe sixteen lovers who lied
Purley's queen and mother makes five
Butchered bakers, deaf and dumb waiters
Marble Arch criminals and clause 28ers
Authers, authors, plastered outcasts
Locked up daughters and rock and roll stars
Goodbye Rudy, David and Rosie
Abraham and Julianne
And everyone that knows me
I'm talking about the good, the bad, the average and unique
The grebos the crusties and you and I
Hello, good evening, welcome
And goodbye
Song Info
Submitted by
random Boy On Feb 25, 2005
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Direct Jim Bob quote "The Only Living Boy was I believe about watching all your friends die from what Prince called ‘a big disease with a little name.’ The title is a play on words nicked from the Simon & Garfunkel song ‘The Only Living Boy In New York’."
Jim Bob: "Oh yeah (looking at the lyric sheet), I remember writing this one. Yeh, I think it's one of those confused songs that starts out about one thing and then turns into something else and then something else."
Interviewer: Sounds to me like you lost the plot halfway through.
Jim Bob: "Yeah, it does sort of go off at tangents a bit. I mean, it's like, y'know, the first half really is just like a love song, it's someone basically asking someone to come home; you know, they're at home and the other person is off shagging around . . . And then in the middle for some reason it goes into this, er... "
Interviewer: What do you mean "for some reason"? You wrote the blighter didn't You? Jimbob carries on, hesitant and oblivious,
Jim Bob: "... this big piece, right, of me being . . . well it just goes a bit weird on me. I don't really understand it. There's sort of a great feeling of optimism and then the end of it is just an obituary of people who've died of AIDS."
The lyric "wipe the lipstuck hearts and flowers..." is a reference to the urban myth about people with aids sleeping with others and leaving the house with "welcome to the aids club" written on the mirror...
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/aidsmary.asp
Supposedly, this song is about AIDS. The protagonist watches everyone around him die from it, and then must reconcile his position as the only living boy left.
That's interesting, I never heard that before. Carter are such a great band and so few people know who they are these days. When I heard them at the tender age of 9 I thought it was great to hear a band singing in an english accent about putting someone in a half-nelson. My opinion is pretty much the same now.
Damn right. Can you beleive I'm the only person to comment on Sherrif Fatman? It's an outrage. What is the world coming to?
Brilliant song.
What's with the lack of comments?! yeah i heard this song when i was about 5 when my rocker parents let me dance to it in the living rom... back in the day... great song though, great band!
I also love the Britishness of Carter USM, many parts of their songs must be incomprehensible to people of other nations!! This my favourite of theirs: great lyrics, brilliant beat and piano and guitars. It makes me really happy, so the AIDS thing puts a very different spin on it for me... The end section listing "the safe 16 lovers who lied", "Clause 28ers" "rock stars" etc illustrates how diverse the sufferers can be.
I love Carter.