Well you're not stupid enough to get bogged down in questions of right or wrong
I guess it's hard to hear the screams when your pay-check asks for deafness?
And you've no time for contradiction, no, you were just obeying orders!
And you feel sorry for all those left behind, but man, we've got to cut some corners.

Well love's not something you put in a box
The nation state, a job or the ticking of those clocks
Compassion's not your annual purchase of The Big Issue
If you're citizen, you're state, so the problem stays with you.

Your family's story is built upon lie
And the more the money comes in the more it's magnified
And your children begin to ask you about the beating of that drum
So you tell them the story you learnt at their age, the story you've become.

The nation state, a job, the ticking of those clocks
Don't want to tell it, don't want to tell it, don't want to sell it, no
But here we go all the same:
So kids, love is something you put in a box
Your nation state, your job and the ticking of those clocks
Compassion is your annual purchase of The Big Issue
You're citizen, they're state, it's got nothing to do with you.