Middle-Class Heroes

(Album: Casanova - 1996)

"Hello
What have we here?
A young lady
To what do I owe this pleasant surprise, my pretty one?
How may I be of service this dark and wintry night?
Ah, I see. You wish me to look into the future... your future
After GCSEs, A-levels, university
After your first badly paid job in advertising
Okay, my pretty, just cross my palm with plastic
And I'll see what I can do
Wait
The fog is lifting"

I see oriental paper globes
Hanging like decomposing cocoons
While exotic candles overload
The dusty air with their stale perfume
And I see lentils, beans, seaweed and rice
In jars on the windowsill
And it ain't hardly enough to feed the mice
Running behind the lines of allergy pills

All these things will come to pass
When heroes of the middle class
Face up to their responsibilities

I see an Indian fertility God
He's got thirty seven limbs to spare
And tasteless tie-dyed tablecloths
That double up as evening wear
And I see naked bodies twist and turn
On the futon of dreams fulfilled
But their three-year-old kid seems unconcerned
He'd rather swallow all those allergy pills

I see unspeakable vulgarity
Institutionalized mediocrity
Infinite tragedy
Rise up little souls-join the doomed army
Fight the good fight-wage the unwinnable war
Elegance against ignorance
Difference against indifference
Wit against shit

My words fly up to heaven, my thoughts remain below
Words said without feeling never to heaven go

All these things will come to pass
When heroes of the middle class
Face up, repent, and pay the price
For accidentally creating life
An oversight for which they must atone
And sacrifice their own