"The Life Auction" lyrics - STRAWBS

[I - Impressions Of Southall From The Train]

Row upon row of drab colourless houses
Bowing low before high-rise blocks
Varicosed housewives with sweaty armpits
Scrimping and scrubbing their husbands' socks
A limp, polluted flag flutters sadly in its death throes
While crippled trees in leg irons wearily haul themselves
Through another diluted acid day.

[II - The Auction]

The vultures stood outside the gate, quite unaware that fate
Is never kind to those who wait in vain
Their pride betrays the means of their destruction.

Take my rings and trinkets bright
But leave my eyes which give me light
My tongue which gives me leave to speak
The rest is yours and welcome, the rest is yours and welcome.

The wolves will suck the bones they bought, those over which they fought
Their elders always having taught them envy
Their greed explains their total lack of conscience.

Take my rings and trinkets bright
But leave my eyes which give me light
My tongue which gives me leave to speak
The rest is yours and welcome, the rest is yours and welcome.

The auctioneer is seldom lost, our paths have sometimes crossed
But he has never failed to count the cost of passion
Desire is the whole point of his existence.

Take my rings and trinkets bright
But leave my eyes which give me light
My tongue which gives me leave to speak
The rest is yours and welcome, the rest is yours and welcome.

Now you have given 'cause to bleed, you join the wolf-pack as you feed
But now you find yourself in need of comfort
But peace-of-mind has no home for the loveless
Peace-of-mind has no home for the loveless
Peace-of-mind has no home for the loveless.