Couldn't get ahead
 I just couldn't get ahead 
 [bad word] out of pub, the shop is closed [bad word] out of pub, Harry wants to know
 When the next bus is
 I said five or ten minutes
 I had my change in my hands
 The bus flashes past.
 My hands are caught

 Couldn't get ahead. I just couldn't get ahead.

 In a week, earned money for month
 Got all my jobs done
 My eyelids were sick of it
 Gist was I could sleep for a day?
 But bad bills have no respect for a decent man's rest
 Flopping on the doorstep
 Outlined in color red

 Couldn't get ahead. Just couldn't get ahead.

 On an Asiatic plane with wings not of the grain
 Toilet queue was endless
 Couldn't get a beer
 The hostesses were muslims
 When I get in toilet,
 Light flashes: "Return to seat."
 I feared withdrawal
 And I feared beer was making sludge of my head.

 Couldn't get ahead. Just couldn't get ahead.

 Now my problems are solved
 It's a remedy of old
 I pretend I'm blind you see
 Put on some Armani clothes
 And act like ET
 Where I'm at is a cabbage patch,
 no longer strewn with weeds
 Have a Ghandi at me
 Colour mags wish me well
 No more, no get ahead.

 Couldn't get ahead. Just couldn't get ahead.