It’s safe in the city, to love in a doorway, to wrangle some screens from the door, and isn’t it me, putting pain in a stranger? Like a portrait in flesh, who trails on a leash, will you see that I’m scared and I’m lonely? So I’ll break up my room, and yawn and I run to the centre of things where the knowing one says. Boys, boys, it’s a sweet thing. If you want it, boys, get it here, thing. ‘Cause hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing. I’m glad that you’re older than me, makes me feel important and free. Does that make you smile, isn’t that me? I’m in your way, and I’ll steal every moment. If his trade is a curse, then I’ll bless you and turn to the crossroads, and hamburgers, and…
I’ll make you a deal, like any other candidate. We’ll pretend we’re walking home, ‘cause your future’s at stake. My set is amazing, it even smells like a street. There’s a bar at the end where I can meet you and your friend. Someone scrawled on the wall “I smell the blood of les tricoteuses” who wrote up scandals in other bars. I’m having so much fun with the poisonous people spreading rumours and lies and stories they made up. Some make you sing and some make you scream, one makes you wish that you’d never been seen. But there’s a shop on the corner that’s selling papier maché, making bullet-proof faces, Charlie Manson, Cassius Clay. If you want it, boys, get it here, thing. So you scream out of line “I want you! I need you! Anyone out there? Any time?” Tres butch little number whines “Hey dirty, I want you! When it’s good, it’s really good, and when it’s bad I go to pieces”. If you want it, boys, get it here, thing. Well, on the street where you live I could not hold up my head, for I put all I have in another bed, on another floor, in the back of a car, in the cellar like a church with the door ajar. Well, I guess we’ve must be looking for a different kind, but we can’t stop trying ‘til we break up our minds, ‘til the sun drips blood on the seedy young knights, who press you on the ground while shaking in fright. I guess we could cruise down one more time: with you by my side, it should be fine. We’ll buy some drugs and watch a band, then jump in the river holding hands.
If you want it, boys, get it here thing. ‘Cause hope, boys, is a cheap thing, cheap thing. Is it nice in your snow storm, freezing your brain? Do you think that your face looks the same? Then let it be, it’s all I ever wanted. It’s a street with a deal, and a taste, it’s got claws, it’s got me, it’s got you.
David Bowie - Sweet Thing + Candidate + Sweet Thing (Reprise).
