Five Years [Live Santa Monica ’72]

[Verse 1]
Pushing through the market square
So many mothers sighing
News had just come over
We had five years left to cry in
News guy wept and told us
Earth was really dying
Cried so much that his face was wet
Then I knew he was not lying
And I heard telephones, opera house, favourite melodies
I saw boys and toys and electric irons and TVs
My brain hurt like a warehouse
It had no room to spare
I had to cram so many things to store
Everything in there
And all the fat, skinny people
And all the tall, short people
And all the nobody people
And all the somebody people
I never thought I'd need so many people

[Verse 2]
A girl my age went off her head
Hit some tiny children
If the Black hadn't pulled her off
I think she would have killed them
A soldier with a broken arm
Fixed his stare to the wheels of a Cadillac
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest
And a queer threw up at the sight of that
I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour
Drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine
Don't think you knew you were in my song
And it was cold and it rained, so I felt like an actor
And I thought of Ma and I wanted to get back there
Your face, your race
The way that you talk
I kiss you, you're beautiful
I want you to walk

[Outro]
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got
We've got five years, what a surprise
Five years, stuck on my eyes
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
We've got five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got

[Audience Applause]

[Spoken Word: David Bowie]
God, give me a pair of pliers
Or a strong hand