Blur - The Great Escape


01 Stereotypes (3:10)

The suburbs they are dreaming
they're a twinkle in her eye
She's been feeling frisky since her husband said goodbye
She wears a low cut T-shirt, runs a little B&B
She's most accomodating when she's in her lingerie
Wife swapping is your future
You know that it would suit ya

Yes, they're stereotypes
There must be more to life
All your life you're dreaming
and then you stop dreaming
From time to time you know
you should be going on another bender

The suburbs they are sleeping
but she's dressing up tonight
She likes a man in uniform, he likes to wear it tight
They're on the lovers' sofa, they're on the patio
And when the fun is over, watch themselves on video
Yhe neighbours may be staring
but they are just past caring

Yes, they're stereotypes
There must be more to life
All your life you're dreaming
and then you stop dreaming
From time to time you know
you'd going on another bender

Yes, there must be more to life
than stereotypes

Wife swapping is your future
You know that it would suit ya

Yes, they're stereotypes
There must be more to life
All your life you're dreaming
and then you stop dreaming
From time to time you know
you should be going on another bender

Yes, there must be more to life
than stereotypes
All your life you're dreaming
and then you stop dreaming
From time to time you know
you should go on another bender
before you come to an ender (?)


02 Country House (3:57)

(So the story begins)

City dweller, successful fella
thought to himself
oops, i've got a lot of money (...) (?)
Caught in a rat race terminally

I'm a professional cynic
but my heart's not in it
I'm payin' the price of living life at the limit (...) (?)
Caught up in the century's anxiety

Yes it prays on him
(prays on him)
He's getting thin
(Try the simple life)

He lives in a house
a very big house in the country
Watching afternoon repeats
and the food he eats in the country
He takes all manner of pills
and piles up analyst bills in the country
Oh, it's like an animal farm
Lots of rural charm in the country

He's got morning glory and life's a different story
Everything's going jackanory (jackanory)
Touched with his own mortality

He's reading Balzac and knocking back Prozac
It's a helping hand that makes you feel wonderfully bland (close your eyes)
Oh, it's a century's remedy

For the faint at heart
(faint at heart)
A new start
(Try the simple life)

(Blow, blow me out, I am so sad, I don't know why)...
He lives in a house
a very big house in the country
He's got a fog in his chest
so he needs a lot of rest in the country
He doesn't drink, smoke, laugh
takes herbal baths in the country
You should come to no harm
on the animal farm in the country

In the country x3

Blow, blow me out, I am so sad, I don't know why x2

(Blow, blow me out, I am so sad, I don't know why)...
Oh, he lives in a house
a very big house in the country
Watching afternoon repeats
and the food he eats in the country
He takes all manner of pills
and piles up analyst bills in the country
Oh, it's like an animal farm
Lots of rural charm in the country

(Blow, blow me out, I am so sad, I don't know why)...
Oh, he lives in a house
a very big house in the country
He's got a fog in his chest
so he needs a lot of rest in the country
He doesn't drink, smoke, laugh
takes herbal baths in the country
You should come to no harm
on the animal farm in the country

Ooh la la la

(I wanna be) x2


03 Best Days (4:48)

Bow Bells say goodbye to the last train
Over the river they all go again
Out into leafy nowhere
Hope someone's waiting out there for them

Cabbie has his mind on a fare to the sun
He works nights but it's not much fun
Picks up the London yo-yos
All on their own down Soho, take me home

Other people wouldn't like to hear you
if you said that these are the best days of our lives
Other people'd turn around and laugh at you
if you said that these are the best days of our lives

Trellick Tower's been calling
I know she'll leave me in the morning

In hotel cells listening to dial tones
remote controls and cable moans
In his drink he's talking
Gets disconnected sleepwalking back home

Other people wouldn't like to hear you
if you said that these are the best days of our lives
Other people'd turn around and laugh at you
if you said that these are the best days of our lives

Of our lives

Other people wouldn't like to hear you
if you said that these are the best days of our lives
Other people'd turn around and laugh at you
if you said that these are the best days of our lives

Other people'd break into a cold sweat
if you said that these are the best days of their lives
And other people'd turn around and laugh at you
if you said that these are the best days of our lives

Of our lives


04 Charmless Man (3:35)

I met him in a crowded room
where people go to drink away their gloom
He sat me down and so began
the story of the charmless man

Educated the expensive way
he knows his Claret from his Beaujolais
I think he'd like to have been Ronnie Kray
but the nature didn't make him that way

He went
na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na na

He thinks his educated airs
those family shares
will protect him
that we'll respect him

He moves in circles of friends
who just pretend
that they like him
He does the same to them
and when you put it all together
there's the model of the charmless man

Na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na na

He knows the swingers and their cavalry
Says he can get in anywhere for free
I began to go a little cross-eyed
and from this charmless man I just had to hide

He went
na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na na

He talks at speed, he gets nose bleeds
he doesn't see
his days are tumbling
down upon him

And yet he tries so hard to please
He's just so keen
for you to listen
but no one's listening
and when you put it all together
there's the model of the charmless man

(...) (?)

He thinks his educated airs
those family shares
will protect him
that you'll respect him

And yet he tries so hard to please
He's just so keen
for you to listen
but no one's listening
and when you put it all together
there's the model of the charmless man

Na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na
na na na na na na na


05 Fade Away (4:19)

They stumbled into their lives
In a vague way became man and wife
One got the other
they deserved one another

They settled in a brand new town
with people from the same background
They kept themselves busy
long hours left them dizzy

Now when he's in she's out

All you ever do is fade away
all you ever do is fade away
He's not making plans
'cos now he understands
all you ever do is fade away

He noticed he had visible lines
she worried about her behind
Their birth had been the death of them
it didn't really bother them

Now when she's in he's out

All you ever do is fade away
all you ever do is fade away
She's not making plans
'cos now she understands
all you ever do is fade away

When he's in she's

All you ever do is fade away
all you ever do is fade away
They're not making plans
'cos now they understand
he must go into the girl
'cos this is all you'll ever get (?)

All you ever do is fade away
all you ever do is fade away
all you ever do is fade away
They're not making plans
'cos now they understand

All you ever do is fade away
(to fade)


06 Top Man (4:00)

(Ho, ho, ho, ho)...
This is a public warning
Be careful when you're out
We're having freaky weather
There's a lot of it about

(Ho, ho, ho, ho)...
On the terraces it's swinging
He's a monkey on the roof
You've seen him on the telly
so let me introduce
(your host tonight)

T.O.P.M.A.N.
is naughty by nature
T.O.P.M.A.N.
on doubles and chasers
T.O.P.M.A.N.
he a little boy racer
T.O.P.M.A.N.
shooting guns on the high streets of love

(Ho, ho, ho, ho)...
In a crowd it's hard to spot him
but anonymity can cost
It's never cheap or cheerful
He's Hugo and he's Boss

(Ho, ho, ho, ho)...
He's riding through the desert
on a Camel Light
and on a magic carpet
he fly away tonight
(open Sesame)

T.O.P.M.A.N.
is naughty by nature
T.O.P.M.A.N.
on doubles and chasers
T.O.P.M.A.N.
he a little boy racer
T.O.P.M.A.N.
shooting guns on the high streets of love

T.O.P.M.A.N.
he sees her in double
T.O.P.M.A.N.
then he pukes on the pavement
T.O.P.M.A.N.
he likes her all clean and shaven
T.O.P.M.A.N.
shooting guns on the high streets of love

T.O.P.M.A.N.
is naughty by nature
T.O.P.M.A.N.
on doubles and chasers
T.O.P.M.A.N.
he a little boy racer
T.O.P.M.A.N.
shooting guns on the high streets of love

T.O.P.M.A.N.
shooting guns on the high streets of love
(to fade)


07 The Universal (3:59)

This is the next century
where the universal's free
You can find it anywhere
Yes, the future's been sold

Every night we've gone
and to karaoke songs
How we like to sing along
though the words are wrong

It really, really, really could happen
Yes, it really, really, really could happen
When the days they seem to fall through you
well, just let them go

No one here is alone
Satellites in every home
Yes, the universal's here
here for everyone

Every paper that you read
says tomorrow's your lucky day
Well, here's your lucky day

It really, really, really could happen
Yes, it really, really, really could happen
If the days they seem to fall through you
well, just let them go

Well, it really, really, really could happen
Yes, it really, really, really could happen
When the days they seem to fall through you
well, just let them go

(Just let them go)

(Just let them go)


08 Mr. Robinson's Quango (4:01)

(Ooh, ah, ooh) x2

Oh, Mr. Robinson
and his quango
Dirty dealer, expensive car
runs the buses and the evening star
He got a hair piece too
He got herpes
His private life is very discreet
a nicer man, no, you're never gonna meet

Well, he's a self professed saviour of the dim right wing
He got respitory problems and a Mason's ring

(Ooh, ah, ooh) x2

Oh, Mr. Robinson
and his quango
drinks with generals and county wives
The family business is doing all right
They're doing tangoes
down in the quangos
He makes them tick, oh he makes them tock
and if he don't, wait, he'll put you in the dock

Just sits in his leather chair and twiddles his thumb
gets his secretary in and pinches her bum

(Ooh, ah, ooh) x4

He ran into the toilets in the town hall
He got his byro out and he wrote on the wall
I'm wearing black french knickers under the suit
I've got stockings and suspenders on
I'm feeling rather loose

Oh, I'm a naughty boy
Oh, I'm a naughty, naughty boy

(To ah)

He's a self professed saviour of the dim right wing
He got respitory problems and a Mason's ring

(Ooh, ah, ooh) x4

Oh, I'm a naughty boy
Oh, I'm a naughty naughty boy
etc.


09 He Thought Of Cars (4:16)

Moscow's still red
the young man's dead
Gone to heaven instead
The evening news says he was confused

The motorways will all merge soon
lottery winner buys the moon
They've come to save us
the space invaders

He thought of cars
and where, where to drive them
Who to drive them with
but there, there was no one, no one

There's panic at London Heathrow
Everybody wants to go
up into the blue
but there's a ten year queue

Colombia is in top gear
it shouldn't snow this time of year
America's shot
she's gone and done the lot

He thought of planes
Where, where to fly to
and who to fly there with
but there, there was no one, no one

La la la la la
la la la la la la la
x2

He thought of cars
and where, where to drive them
and who to drive them with
but there, there was no one, no one

La la la la la
la la la la la la la
(to fade)


10 It Could Be You (3:12)

Chu Chu Chu Churchill
got his lucky number
Tomorrow there's another
Could be me
Could be you

No silver spoon
Sticky teeth, they rot too soon
You've got to have the best tunes
(La la la)
Or that's it, you've blown it

All we want is to be happy
in our homes like happy families
Be the man on the beach with the world at his feet
Yes it could be you

O o oh

To do di do di ha x2

The likely lads
(likely lads)
are pickin' up the uglies
Yesterday they were just puppies
(Ah ah ah)
Beery slurs
now life's a blur

Telly addicts
you should see them at it
getting in a panic
Will we be there?
Trafalgar Square

All we want is to be happy
in our homes like happy families
Be the man on the beach with the world at his feet
Yes it could be you

Could be me, could be you, could be you, could be me
Could be you, could be you, could be you, could be me
Could be you, could be you, could be you, could be me
Could be you, could be you, could be you, could be me
Could be you, could be you, could be you
Should be me, could be you, should be you, could be

But don't worry
(don't worry)
It's not your lucky number
'cos tomorrow there's another
Could be you
Could be me

All we want is to be happy
in our homes like happy families
Be the man on the beach with the world at his feet
Yes it could be you

O o oh

To do di do di ha x4

Ah


11 Ernold Same (2:07)

(...) (?)

Ernold Same awoke from the same dream
in the same bed at the same time
Looked in the same mirror
made the same frown
felt the same way as he did every day

Then Ernold Same, the same train
the same station, sat in the same seat
with the same nasty stain
next to same old what's his name
On his way to the same place to do the same thing (?)
do the same thing again, again, again (la la la la la)...
Poor old Ernold Same

La la la la la la
la la

Oh, Ernold Same (oh, Ernold Same)
his world stays the same (oh, Ernold Same)
Today will always be tomorrow (same, same, same)
Poor old Ernold Same (oh, Ernold Same)
He's getting that feelin' once again (oh, Ernold Same)
Nothing, nothing will change tomorrow (same, same, same)

La la la la la la x3


12 Globe Alone (2:23)

Who maddest one on the M1?
Who hasn't stopped sucking his thumb?
Who very straight and never grins?
Who cares what car he's driving in?

He is because he saw it on a commercial break
and if he doesn't get what
he wants then he'll get a headache
'Cos he needs it, wants it, almost loves it
He's here on his own, on globe alone, here on his own

Who joined health club to glisten
into HiFi precision?
Who mobile phone gives him the bone?
Who very keen on Sharon Stone?

He is because he saw it on a commercial break
and if he doesn't get what
he wants then he'll get a headache
'Cos he needs it, wants it, almost loves it
He's here on his own, on globe alone, here on his own, on globe alone

La la la la x3

And then he sings

La la la la x6 (?)

Who eats at the new brasserie?
Who only ever gets merry?
Who wouldn't be seen at bed time
without putting Calvin Kleins on?

He is because he saw it on a commercial break
and if he doesn't get what
he wants he'll get a headache
'Cos he needs it, wants it, almost loves it
He's here on his own, on globe alone, here on his own, on globe alone, here on his own


13 Dan Abnormal (3:24)

La la la la x5
...

Meanie Leanie come on down
come and entertain the town
It's Friday night and we're all bored
Times been called, there is no more
Times been called, it's such a bore

(All together)
Dan Abnormal, not normal at all
It's not his fault, we made him this way
He'll imitate ya, try to ape ya
but it's not his fault dan watches TV

TV, TV, TV
La la la la...

La la la la...
Meanie Leanie stays up late
mopes around, gets in a state
He's the killer in your arcade
Shooting gangsta ready made
'cos that is where the future's made

(All together)
Dan Abnormal, not normal at all
It's not his fault, we made him this way
He'll imitate ya, try to ape ya
but it's not his fault dan watches TV

TV, TV, TV...
La la la la...
(Teleport me) x2

Dan went to his local burger bar
I want McNormal and chips
or i'll blow you to bits
Give us it

La la la la...
It's the miseries at half past three
watching video nasties
He's dirty dreams when he's asleep
'cos Dan's just like you and me
He's the Meanie Leanie

(All together)
Dan Abnormal, not normal at all
It's not his fault, we made him this way
He'll imitate ya, try to ape ya
but it's not his fault dan watches TV

Dan Abnormal, not normal at all
Oh, it's not his fault we made him this way
He'll imitate ya, try to ape ya
but it's not his fault Dan Abnormal's me

La la la la x4


14 Entertain Me (4:19)

The weekend is back
but so is he
Head to the floodlights
see the fraternity
They're waiting

I hear them up in the north
down in the south
All that is spewing
Spewing out of his mouth

Entertain me x4

At his and her dating
bored minds agree
Requirements to be stated
and replies awaited

She wants a loose fit
He wants instant whip
Guesstimates her arrival
Will she want it really badly?

Entertain me x3
entertain
Entertain me x4

A car, a house, both in the street
The boredom of the sober week
The weekend's here, hip hip hooray
To make the blues just go away...

Entertain me x3
entertain
Entertain me x3
entertain
Entertain me x3
entertain


15 Yuko And Hiro (3:50)

This is my work place
and these are the people I work with
Yuko and Hiro
we work together

We work for the company
that looks to the future
We work hard to please them
They will protect us

I never see you
We're never together
I love you forever

I drink in the evenings
It helps with relaxing
I can't sleep without drinking
we drink together

From Monday to Saturday
I go to my workplace
but on Sunday together
Yuko and Hiro

I never see you
I never see you
We're never together
We're never together
I love you forever (forever, forever, forever)

(...) (?)

I never see you
I never see you
We're never together
We're never together
I never see you
I never see you
We're never together
We're never together
I love you forever

(...) (?)


(Hidden) (1:05)

[instrumental]