[Verse 1]

Always at the foot of the photograph

That's me there, snug as a thug

In a mugshot pose, a foul-mouthed rogue

Owner of this corner and not much more

[Pre-Chorus]

Still these days I'm better placed

To get my just rewards

I'll pound out a tune and very soon

I'll have too much to say and a dead stupid name

[Chorus]

And though I ought to be learning, I feel like a veteran

Of "Oh, I like your poetry, but I hate your poems"

Calendars crumble, I'm knee-deep in numbers

I've turned twenty-one, I've twist, I'm bust, I'm wrong again

[Verse 2]

Rubbing shoulders with the sheets till two

Looking at my watch and I'm half-past caring

In the lap of luxury it comes to mind

Is this headboard hard? Am I a lap behind?

[Pre-Chorus]

But to face doom in a sock-stenched room

All by myself

Is the kind of fate I never contemplate

Lots of people would cry, though none spring to mind

[Chorus]

And though I ought to be learning, I feel like a veteran

Of "Oh, I like your poetry, but I hate your poems"

Calendars crumble, I'm knee-deep in numbers

I've turned twenty-one, I've twist, I'm bust, I'm wrong again

[Post-Chorus]

Know what it's like

To sigh at the sight

Of the first quarter of life?

Ever stopped to think and found out

Nothing was there?

[Verse 3]

They laugh to see such fun

I'm playing blind man's bluff all by myself (All by myself)

And they're chanting a line from a nursery rhyme, saying

"Ba ba bleary eyes, have you any idea?"

[Chorus]

Years of learning, I must be a veteran

Of "Oh, I like your poetry, but I hate your poems"

And the calendar's cluttered with days that are numbered

I've turned twenty-one, I've twist, I'm bust, I'm wrong again

[Outro]

(Ought to be learning) Twist, I'm bust, I'm wrong again

(Feel like a veteran) Twist, I'm bust, I'm wrong again

(Calendar's cluttered) With

(Days that are numbered) Ooh, and I

Know what it's like to sigh at the sight

Of the first quarter of life

I know what it's like