Start playing their polkas to me

At the knees-up in Teddy Boys’ Row

You can come and see Uncle to get through the week
Brass knuckles and banjos are out on the town
I’ve a whole wailing wall of electric guitars
All battered and old

It’s a wonder to me, I still don’t understand
Leave your pledges with me to redeem
And you get to the back of the queue
I remember the officer’s watch in my hand
Fingers are pointing at you
Some folk sell their bodies for ten bob a go
Well, if we go to heaven, and some say we don’t
But your soul, your soul, that is not what I do
Bits of the movement all over the place
Accordions hop from the shelves to the floor
All my yesterdays broken, a watch with no face
And you take work in hell, be glad it’s not worse
The gold block and tackle tells the time upside down
A heart full of holes
See my boys and my beautiful girls
Handcuffs and hunting knives clang on the bars
Could shatter the windows down Brick Lane tonight
Redeeming your pledge, dear, I’ll keep it for you

But if there’s a reckoning day
And a heart full of holes
Heart full of holes

Heart full of holes
Rock ‘n’ roll, well, I don’t know

Me with my heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
A heart full of holes

Repair it or die I was told

Heart full of holes
There’s a ringing of bells, a dunderhead’s curse

A clarinet squeals to be free
Which doesn’t make me look too bad, don’t you know
Why I ever survived to be old
With a heart full of holes
If one of us dies, love, I think I’ll retire
Heart full of holes

There’s not a lot I can do there
Please God, I’ll see You and maybe I won’t
I’ve a bag packed to go either way
It’s not gonna go anywhere

Air pistols shoot out the lights
Who knows, maybe gates made of pearls
Dead people’s wedding gifts, walk out the door
Garden of Eden, no gates or barbed wire
Politicians go pawning their souls