The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living

[Intro: Mike Skinner]
I need something in my life to straighten me out

[Verse 1: Mike Skinner]
Let's rent this shed, we'll do vocals in the bog
Call Toast PR, tell 'em we've opened up shop
Campaign meetings at Warner, no coke and not drunk
Three years to make this work or look a joke and be broke
Blag their lawyers like the con with a dog
And there'll be no more spread scores to drop and keep dropping
Settle my gross addictions with my net income
Tell my mum over tea that my whole life is fucking up
We've got two-fifty grand in the budget to go
Subtract five for club promo
Lose five for a good video and fifteen for a dud video
Fuck that

[Chorus: Mike Skinner & Teddy Mitchell]
It's the hardest way to make an easy living
As long as we part each day just a bit nearer to delivery

[Verse 2: Mike Skinner]
Mayhem texts me about the press and TV
See off Ted in the East so I can get some sleep
Nap on the settee, the laptop next to me
Wince for my family at the Skinner scandal of the week
TV pluggers, product managers set it up
Club promo needs to step up, help it work
Stick to our guns, don't crack to demands
Tell my mum in the car that the car might have to go back
Two-hundred-and-twenty-five grand
Twenty-six grand for a showcase and
Five more on tour support and it's a poor story

[Chorus: Mike Skinner & Teddy Mitchell]
It's the hardest way to make an easy living
As long as we part each day just a bit nearer to delivery

[Verse 3: Mike Skinner]
We'll never get bankrupt if we never have a go
This is no ordinary label, I need to flash up my flow
Go into Maurice Sedwell of Saville Row
I want a pinstripe suit that no man owns
Cash in the Kano beat for the silver shadow
Send it to Warrior for the flash and the glow
The safest way to double your money is to fold it in your pocket
Tell my mum during breakfast that I got no sleep
Eight grand paid in September, April, May and December
If this keeps going so well, that's gonna be the end of us

[Chorus: Mike Skinner & Teddy Mitchell]
It's the hardest way to make an easy living
As long as we part each day just a bit nearer to delivery

[Verse 4: Mike Skinner]
In spread betting, it's easy to draw a small fortune
Start with a big fortune and lose until it's a small fortune
Haven't got a clue, we blindly charge on
Death threats from a boy of the girl I sarged on
She said she didn't have a bloke, another lesson marked down
Verbal agreements aren't worth the paper they're marked on
Get scans of reviews, we beg to chart up
Tell my mum over tea, the press has started up
We've spent a fortune, Christmas goes by and it's the end for tune
We need to sell some records soon

[Chorus: Mike Skinner & Teddy Mitchell]
It's the hardest way to make an easy living
As long as we part each day just a bit nearer to delivery
It's the hardest way to make an easy living
As long as we part each day just a bit nearer to delivery