Amused to Death

[Verse 1]
Doctor, doctor, what is wrong with me?
This supermarket life, is getting long
What is the half-life of a color TV?
What is the shelf life of a teenage queen?

[Refrain]
Ooh, Western Woman
Ooh, Western Girl

[Verse 2]
News hound sniffs the air
When Jessica Hahn goes down
He latches onto that symbol of detachment
Attracted by the peeling way of feeling
The celebrity of the abused shell, the belle

[Refrain]
Ooh, Western Woman
Ooh, Western Girl
Ooh, Western Woman
Ooh, Western Girl

[Verse 3]
The children on Melrose strut their stuff
Is absolute zero cold enough?
And out in the valley, warm and clean
The little ones sit by the TV screen
No thoughts to think
No tears to cry
All sucked dry
Down to the very last breath

[Verse 4]
Bartender what is wrong with me?
Why am I so out of breath?
The captain said, "Excuse me ma'am'
This species has amused itself to death"

[Bridge]
(Amused itself to death)
It has amused itself to death
(Amused itself to death)

[Verse 5]
We watched the tragedy unfold
We did as we were told, bought and sold
It was the greatest show on Earth
But then it was over
We oohed and ahhed
We drove our racing cars
We ate our last few jars of caviar
And somewhere out there in the stars
A keen eyed lookout spied a flickering light
(Our last hurrah)
Our last hurrah
And when they found our shadows
Grouped 'round the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data on their list
And then
The alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason for our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death

[Verse 6]
No tears to cry
No feelings left
This species has amused itself to death
Amused itself to death

[Outro]
(Amused itself to death)
"Years later, I saw Bill Hubbard's name on the memorial to the missing at Arras"
(Amused itself to death)
"And I... when I saw his name I was absolutely transfixed. It was as though he was now a human being instead of some sort of
Nightmarish memory of how I had to leave him, all those years ago"
(Amused itself to death)
"And I felt relieved, and ever since then I've felt happier about it
Because always before, whenever I thought of him, I said to myself
'Was there something else that I could have done?'"
(Amused itself to death)
"Put me down, I'd rather die, I'd rather die, put me down..."
"And that always sort of worried me. And having seen him, and his
Name in the register - as you know in the memorials there's a little safe"
(Amused itself to death)
"There's a register in there with every name - and seeing his name and
His name on the memorial. It sort of lightened my... heart, if you like"
(Amused itself to death)
"When was it that you saw his name on the memorial?"
"Ah, when I was eighty-seven, that would be a year, ninete... eighty-four, nineteen eighty-four"