Collaborations Don't Work

[Chorus: Alex Kapranos]

Collaborations don't work

They don't work, they don't work

Collaborations don't work

They don't work, they don't work

Collaborations don't work

They don't work, they don't work

I'm gonna do it all by myself

I'm gonna do it all by myself

[Chorus: Russell Mael]

[Verse 1: Alex Kapranos & Russell Mael]

Mozart didn’t need a little Hadyn to chart

Warhol didn’t need to ask De Kooning about art

Frank Lloyd Wright always ate à la carte

Wish I had been that smart

Wish I had been that smart

[Chorus: Russell Mael]

[Verse 2:]

[Russell Mael:]

Collaborations don't work

You start off deferential

[Alex Kapranos:]

And strangely reverential

You both feel it's essential

[Nick McCarthy:]

Collaborations don't work

He's eyeing your new lover

[Bob Hardy:]

Then one night you discover

Them underneath your covers

[Verse 3:]

[Alex Kapranos:]

Collaborations don't work

Delaying your vacations

[Russell Mael:]

To sun-drenched island nations

To seek some affirmations

[Ron Mael:]

Collaborations don't work

A colon or a comma

[Paul Thomson:]

And then a drawn-out drama

Bring in the Dalai Lama

[Bridge: Alex Kapranos & Russell Mael] x2

Where is this damn thing a-going?

Where is this going, someone tell me

Starlight, rub off on me

Star bright, rub off on me

[Verse 4: Alex Kapranos & Russell Mael]

I don't need your patronizing

I don't need your agonizing

I don't need your navel gazing

I don't get your way of phrasing

I don't think you're really trying

What, pray tell, are you implying?

[Verse 5: Alex Kapranos]

I ain't no collaborator

I am the partisan

Rebel in the rocks with dirty trousers, broken pistol in the hand

I ain't no collaborator

Hack my scalp if you think I am

I am a sadistic young usurper, a hand on your neck

Hand on your lover, oh, give the man a hand

I ain't no collaborator

I ain't no collaborator

I am the bastard, independent

If I ever need a father, it won't be you, old man

[Chorus: Alex Kapranos]

[Chorus: Alex Kapranos & Russell Mael]

[Outro]