A police car’s sliding slowly through the jobless side of town
There’s egg yolk on the windscreen and its turning dirty brown
The night is like a hand – it sweats and gives a dirty squeeze
They stop to breathe and go and get the usual free Chinese

Chorus

And it’s farewell to Almond Avenue and goodbye Ormond Park
I know their fetid corners and the secrets in the dark
Too many full of promise sitting nursing unhealed scars
I’ll see you when I see you out beyond the stars

The boys are in the back room with their bets and their beers
The barmaid pulls the blinds down and puts up the chairs
A dream floats from her cigarette and dances through the light
The radio is barking out who won the dogs tonight

I know the faces drinking here we’ve shared a drink or two
We played on the same football teams got pissed instead of school
I saw some fall down on their knees to never get back up
Lord knows how I understood that I had to pack and run

It sometimes seems the world gets colder every passing day
And things I thought I knew seem strange and bound to pass away
I know they say I could have stayed and waited for a change
Well there are some I’m glad to visit here but I can’t wait to get away

And if they disappear awhile