History repeats the old conceits The glib replies the same defeats Keep your finger on important issues With crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues I'm just the oily slick On the windup world of the nervous tick In a very fashionable hovel I hang around dying to be tortured You'll never be alone in the bone orchard This battle with the bottle is nothing so novel So in this almost empty gin palace Through a two-way looking glass You see your Alice You know she has no sense For all your jealousy In a sense she still smiles very sweetly Charged with insults and flattery Her body moves with malice Do you have to be so cruel to be callous And now you find you fit this identikit completely You say you have no secrets And then leave discreetly I might make it California's fault Be locked in Geneva's deepest vault Just like the canals of Mars and the great barrier reef I come to you beyond belief My hands were clammy and cunning She's been suitably stunning But I know there's not a hope in Hades All the laddies cat call and wolf whistle So-called gentlemen and ladies Dog fight like rose and thistle I've got a feeling I'm going to get a lot of grief Once this seemed so appealing Now I am beyond belief