Wild Sign I Choose You

Some people I’ve met wear their age like a T-shirt
That lasts just one summer, then is tossed away
But the day I woke up 17, I knew instantly
I always would be 17
To me, 17 wasn’t some phase, or craze, or fad
I could wear for just 12 months
17 and I met and it was game over
That’s it. It’s you and me forever, kid…

We were just children in the morning
Playing grown-ups in the run-down flats
Sat up drinking, back to back
Cos we both had that, what do you call it?
Wild sign, I choose you
A handsome man once said
That all the best songs sound like longing
The best people run on it, too
Sends them aching, tearing, charging
Relax, I’ll spare you that cringe Kerouac quote
Of all the people
In all the places
There are those you never leave behind
Now I see them standing in a line
All 25, like a video game player select screen
25 years of relentless stupidity
And they can never take that away from us
Still think we could win wars together
Or just sit in bed
Smoking tabs, tarred and feathered

We were just children in the morning
As the dawn tore through the run-down flats
Sat up laughing, back to back
Cos we both had that, what do you call it?
Wild sign, I choose you

I want to live in a 1970s film
Crash my scooter off a cliff, so that finally I might come of age
I want to live in a 1980s film
Where gangs of homeless punks stand round bin fires in downtown LA
I want to live in a 1990s film
Where Diane and Renton meet up years later, on the run
I want to live in a 2020s film
Where we find heroes in each other
Cos we’re living in an age of none

Some people I’ve met wear their age like a T-shirt
That lasts just one summer, then is tossed away
But the day I woke up 17, I knew instantly
I always would be 17
To me, 17 wasn’t some phase, or craze, or fad
I could wear for just 12 months
17 and I met and it was game over
That’s it. It’s you and me forever, kid