Standing on this intersection
Yelling for my change
Watching personalities
Collapse and re-arrange
Gotta smile about it
Gotta surf it out or drown
In the twentieth century
Some guy selling liberty
You've heard it all before
Let's take some pet minority
To fame in eighty-four
Lots of fortunes and
Reputations to be found
In the twentieth century
Yankees lookin' east and west
Before they cross the road
It's Hollywood democracy
It really doesn't bother me
It's entertainment, baby
It explodes
Let the K.G.B. devise
Just what comes after civilised
This intersection's big enough for me
I'll disappear
It's tricky
But, thank God, it's never organised
I'm talking about this twentieth century
The twentieth century
The twentieth century
At first, this sounds like he is wanting “change” in his life, but it also doubles as a smart reference back to the second line:
Yelling for my change
This reminds us that the author is still waiting in a line, yelling for his change for something he just bought on the street.
In fact, the entire song can be understood from the perspective of Don Walker standing on a busy inner-city intersection, people-watching and noting everything he sees around him.