CHORUS:
You've got your parents telling you to do better in school
And your school kids judging your shoes

You've got your teachers all saying "Stop playing the fool"
Try your hardest but you always lose
And life, you ain't doing nothing with it

Ain't got nothing to look forward to in it
Your friends are up front, but you're lying in the trunk
Life is a major exam and you just flunked


V1:
I'm 14, just about to study for my GCSEs

When you get to Year 9, Edexcel pile the work up to the sky
You've got to make notes, and revise all the things you don't know
But most of the time, you stare into space and revise all your star signs

Gazing at your unused pad of paper
You're told to work, but nobody can make you
It's your life, and if you want to waste it

Success is sick, but you will never taste it, 'cause you're never gonna make it

CHORUS


V2:
Now you're free, fresh out of college and the best that you've been

You got a 2-1 (just below a first) but that's still good, well done
Now you pray to God: "Lord, won't you find me a steady, paid job?"
So you go online, you print the application, you know that you'll get it, you've got all the qualifications

But many people tried and failed before you
You should've known before you entered the boardroom
You failed the test, that's half and hour wasted

Success is sick, but you will never taste it, 'cause you're never gonna make it

CHORUS


BRIDGE:
Said you had your chance to prove you ain't just crazy

But you $#&@ed it up, so now people think you're lazy
And now, you'll never amount to anything
Like when you wanna marry the girl of your dreams but you can't even afford a ring


V3 (Felman):
Sometimes, I look back on the days

Before I felt my actual age, or had to gather a wage
And I wonder if my manner has changed
Then it hits me like a slap in the face when I notice I'm exactly the same

I could stand and complain, whine like I'm stamping on grapes
But I mixed having the grades
With managing some massive mistakes, but they manufactured the man of today

And now I'm learning how to balance a plate
From Grandma calling me all clever
Passing tests then to sitting in a call centre now with a headset

I can barely bench-press a tent-peg
I get stressed, but every day I take the next step, respect to my best friend
I spent the first years learning lessons

And the last four circumventing, burning questions
Life isn't a rehearsal session
And you're only on Earth for seconds...so don't flunk it


CHORUS (x2, with ad libs)