The Big Issue

By Chumbawamba

On Tubthumper

Released on September 1, 1997

Thumbnail

[Intro]

There are those, spend the night

Under bridges over by the river

Down in the park through the winter

But there's a house that I know

Safe and warm, and no one ever goes there

Down where the priests bless the wine


[Verse 1]

She's been born into the wrong time

She keeps nonsense on her mind

She's a poet, she's a builder

She's as bored as bored can be

She's a have-not, she's a know-all

She knows just how to say yes

She's skating frozen chaos

Till the no-good gods are dead


[Pre-Chorus 1]

But sometimes in the dead of night

Woken by the city lights

She wonders how she keeps alive


[Chorus]

This is the girl who lost the house which

Paid to the man who put up the rent and

Threw out the girl to feather his own sweet home


[Verse 2]

She's a clueless social climber

Likes the wrong side of the bed

She's a pick-me-up, and she's a drink-to-me

In the company of friends

She's tried every variation

She's so common, she's so cold

She's homesick for a future

Can't stomach what she's told


[Pre-Chorus 2]

On every street in every town

All her days are up and down

At home among the lost and found


[Chorus]

This is the girl who lost the house which

Paid to the man who put up the rent and

Threw out the girl to feather his own sweet home


[Bridge]

Here's the good Samaritan

Looks away and carries on

Looks away and carries on


[Chorus]

This is the girl who lost the house which

Paid to the man who put up the rent and

Threw out the girl to feather his own sweet home

This is the girl who lost the house which

Paid to the man who put up the rent and

Threw out the girl to feather his own sweet home


[Chorus]

(There are those, spend the night)

This is the girl who lost the house which

(Under bridges over by the river)

Paid to the man who put up the rent and

(Down in the park through the winter)

Threw out the girl to feather his own sweet home

(But there’s a house that I know)

This is the girl who lost the house which

(Safe and warm, and no one ever goes there)

Paid to the man who put up the rent and

(Down where the priests bless the wine)

Threw out the girl to feather his own sweet home


[Outro]

Thank you for every tree and flower

Thank you for every sky of blue

Thank you, I should be every hour

Truly thanking you


[Interlude]

(I only recognize two tunes - "Silent Night" and "God Save the Queen." And I only know which is which 'cause one of them, everybody stands up for.)