If I have to go
I will be thinkin of your love
Or somehow you know
No
I'm thinkin of your love

Slyly they whispered away
As I played the last post on the bugle I
Heard him say oh that boy's no different today
Except in every single way

If I have to go
I will be thinkin of your love
Or somehow you'll know
You'll just know
I'm thinkin of your love

I was carried away
Caught up in an affray~as they led him away he sang
We'll meet again some day know my boy
There's a price to pay

If I have to go
I will be thinkin of your love or somehow you know
I don't know how but you know
I'm thinkin of your love

[Spoken: Inside I felt
So so alone
Locked away
Foiled to kingdom come
Although I felt elated I felt I was scum]

I was carried away
Caught up in an affray~as they led him away he sang
We'll meet again some day
Oh my boy, there's a price to pay feel like I've never been away
Though it's been longer than I could possibly say
Been wandering the market carryin a sign's, worded end of

The world is nigh I'm
Glad to see it
You're still tame
The bonds that tie a man, are, tight
Yet we do what we do
With ritual habituality
All through the night

on The Libertines' 2004 self-titled album, their second and last record

_ _ _ . . . _ _ _

This song is utterly filled with homonyms and sound-alike phrases. There are so many possible changes that could be made - generally small, yet hugely evocative - that I could easily go back and retype the song in a completely different way. I don't hear this song in a way that matches up with any of the lyrics I've seen on the internet.

I want to make note of my most beloved sound-alike phrase from this song: 'I was carried away, caught up in an affray as they led him away', the way Pete sings it, it sounds just like: 'I was carried away, caught up in a phrase, they led him away'. A pun on 'an affray' / 'a phrase'. God. Kill me now.

There's only one line that I really can't make sense of, the 'Been wandering the market... ' bit toward the end. Every lyric site I could find listed the line as 'Been wandering the market, carrying a sign saying end of'. For me, though, there's a clear 'w' sound after the word that sounds like 'sign' (but it doesn't even quite sound like 'sign' to me). If I were to literally transcribe what I hear, it would be 'Been wandering the market carryin a signs win end of', or ' ...signs when end of'. I don't know? I went with ' ...sign's worded end of' since it seemed like the closest sensible possibility, but I still don't think that's right. I'm curious to know what other people think. You can write me, or post in the Comments for the entry where I mentioned this song.

The way that the title is used in this song is just brilliant: 'As I played the last post on the bugle I heard him say, oh that boy's no different today, except in every single way'. For me, those lines perfectly express the beautiful tension inherent in playing, or listening to, a familiar song. Every time you perform it or hear it, it's exactly the same, and so are you, because the song is eternal. But you and the song are also different in every single way upon each new iteration. I love those lyrics too much to even be jealous that I couldn't ever write them.

I transcribe all lyrics by ear and write homonyms, linebreaks, commas, Etc as I hear them.