Skint in a material world I did a warehouse stint for southsea girl It was HongKong clothes for cash Everybody got treated worse than trash Punch the card in the company clock Load the trolleys and the company trucks And around and around the whole day through And you couldn't sit down when there was nothing to do Well they had beaten up people from every land Fools like me trying to be in bands A little french girl so good to me But I couldn't love her back so lonely A backpacker travelling through A lumberjack with the travelling blues He had worn out shoes and wore out cuffs And big ideas that were never big enough He said "The man wants you, go wash his car. Hey you, I'm talking to you." I said "Me? Not me, uh uh. No can do." No can, can do, no can No can, can do, no can Now some were grown up unlike me And were dealing with reality I was spitting, sulking, smoking, shirking While the lady from Jamaica was singing and working I had everyone but me to blame And everyday was just the same Well nobody ever said it was a righteous world But they did they never said it was a southsea girl He said "The man wants you, go wash his car. Hey you, I'm talking to you." I said "Me? Not me, uh uh. No can do." No can, can do, no can No can, can do, no can Well I've made my bed on people's floors Opened up and closed some doors Dreamed that if my dreams came true Then I wouldn't do what I didn't want to Walking through the gates to the outside To dream some dreams that never died And I walked the streets of London town Looking for a place to put my head down