The Victory Lap

It all builds up in your head that things will change
But there's nothing gonna shift
It just moves on, continues along
New suits, new ties, new colours
Trapped in this misery, looking at each, other wanting to fight
Wild red eyes, shouting your rights, morale drops
The land murmurs a bit with discontent
So the flags come out sporting lament
It's an opportunity for bunting and a rerun of fantasised glory

Stereos out, keep your wits, party tunes, greatest hits
We've blocked the road with wheelie bins and stacked the tins
We live for tiny moments of joy
Our pains and grievances can be brushed aside in an instant
Because today, it's hotter than Mallorca
And it's better because it's home and we're not alone

Sun's melting the pavement
There an offer on two-for-one, football's on, so let's take a wander
Spy a big screen, no breeze, everyone's easing into malcontent
Yet, we're all full of disappointment, powerless, slid down in our chairs
Sweaty and numb, sat, dead-eyed and dumb
Happily staring into the abyss on the barbecue pit

Watching the flames gather on the horizon
Tanked-up gladiators fighting in the corner
Nothing's happened, it's just chests at dawn
A little spit, a little growl, a little love
Peacock bravado, a sideshow of sportswear
Skinny fit posture, lovely tan, all modern man

Cigarette smoke fills the air
Mixing with the sunshine, and its sublime
Vapes to the back of us, smell of sweets
And we're taken back to those times gone by
No constant concerns with the nation's wars
No worries of Britannia's death throes
Just endless nights of hope
Hollered-out cigars full of drogue
Dreaming of a steady ship on a never-ending void
That feeling that we were infinite

An easy escape from small-town clamour
That clamour to create and the invincibility of youth
Joyous freedom, the fearlessness of it all
But your shift's almost over
Your memory's reviving, your memory's reviving
We're on a victory lap for surviving

And I reminisce too easily, we all do, I suppose
And yet, you know how it goes, my old BMX bike
That teenage football injury, dodgy knee-kill surgery
They took it off and put it back
Should have heard the crack when it snapped, proper gnat
And I guess we're all hypocrites gazing through that mix
Or, I'm a slightly lesser periodist
As things were different back then, things were better
Everyone old enough agrees
Innocent times, yet, admittedly more disease

Speeding off your adolescent tits in a railway underpass
It's five o'clock in the morning
You're not cold, it's fine, no regrets
The breeze is nice, it's fresh
As you mumble and stumble through your second pack of cigarettes
We're macking it out, you see, it's easy, best times of your life
Idealistic theory, and the birds start to tweet
As a cool morning fog rises up like catastrophic dread
Those words you were speaking are getting harder to say now
Yet, you can hear them running around in your head

That monumental dread and you can see it happening
You feel that heaviness, your bones suddenly glued
To the underpass floor 'til you can take no more
And it's slowing down, it's slowing down so much
You almost stop, people dash, memories flash
Sensations of contentment, resentment, fearlessness, youth
Vaseline tints your ecstatic vision to a blur
No escape from this crush as you collapse into a bush
When you sway less than 400 metres away from your front door
Struggling to take any more

The regret of not wearing a coat finally hits
As your body collides with the piss on the floor
Your memory's reviving, your memory's reviving
We're on a victory lap for surviving