State Hospital

[Verse 1]
The half-backflip conception, state hospital birth
The most threadbare, tall story the country has ever heard
Brought home to breathe smoke in the arms of her mother
The blunt kitchen knife who just lays in a submissive position
Beneath a national weight and the slow arc of a fist

[Chorus]
Her heart beats like a breezeblock thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete forced to be brave
She was born into a grave

[Verse 2]
And in the limp through years of bored schooling
She’s accustomed to hearing that she could never run far
A slipped disc in the spine of community
A bloody curse word in a pedestrian verse
Spirits in graveyards and fingers in car parks
She cries on the high street just to be heard
A screaming anchor for nothing in particular
At the foot of the fuck of it dragging her heels in the dirt

[Chorus]
Her heart beats like a breezeblock thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete forced to be brave
She was born into a grave

[Verse 3]
The cheek of youth flashed red and turned green
Now she lies on the pavement, she is helped to her feet
All thighs, hair and magpie handbags
Saturday’s uniform for the ‘fuck me’ parade
Brought home to keep warm in the arms of a plumber
Ruddy and balding who just needs a spine to dig into
A chest for the head and a hand for the holding

[Chorus]
Her heart beats like a breezeblock thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete forced to be brave
She was, she was

[Interlude]

[Chorus]
Her heart beats like a breezeblock thrown down the stairs
Her skin is thicker than concrete forced to be brave
She was, she was
A broken elevator anthem held between floors
But if blood is thicker than concrete
All is not lost

[Outro]
All is not lost
All is not lost
All is not lost
All is not lost