No one knows quite how these things start
One or two yobs turn crowd into mob
Smash the TAB suddenly all bets are off
And everyone's looking for something to lob
Down King Street they stop fighting each other
Went on a looting trip- we all know the script
They've all got previous and unspoken grievances
Strip club town looked like the Gaza Strip
Some reveler climbed up on the spire
The flat-chat ambo's left him hanging in limbo
The maul in the mall set it on fire
Some kid got gla**ed by the Myer window
Upturned cars by the Dockland bars
Both ends of the Burnley tunnel were sealed
Kids were attacking with bits of cladding
From the boarded-up side of the Melbourne Wheel
Melbourne Burning
Melbourne Burning
We were all watching Masterchef elimination
Channel 10 apologized for the interruption
There was talk of a curfew, there was no information
The AFL boss complained about fixture disruption
Gangs from the estate moved in the looter's wake
There were spot fires all over the Melways
From Marriott Borders to Taylor's Lakes
And hoon cars taking back the freeways
Melbourne Burning
Melbourne Burning
A goth got off the night driver one stop too far
Got chased by a car for calling them bogans
Family First skin heads bragged in some bar
They'd covered covered Birrarung Marr with white supremacist slogans
The Sunni community was blamed by their neighbours
Cos some Shi'ite got helped with his self flagellation
Extremists came out of the woodwork overnight
Point the finger, preach escalation
Tamils in Doncaster blamed it on Sinhala
Serbs fought Albanians in Fountain Gate
Some Kahanist rabbi in Balaclava
Wanted to claim a new theocratic state
Zanu blamed Zapu, Tutsi blamed Hutu
Centuries enemies invoked old enmities
Some nut called to Balkanise Braybook
Park Orchards was torched by warring South Sudanese
Where is Melbourne Burning
Where is Melbourne Burning
Melbourne burning in the corners of lives
Melbourne burning in the hearts and the minds
Melbourne burning in the deep dark parts where memory lies
Melbourne burning in the name to the pain at the back of your brain
Where there's someone to blame
There's always someone to blame
Melbourne Burning
Melbourne Burning
Melbourne Burning
Melbourne Burning
Melbourne Burning
Melbourne Burning
I saw it in a painting
Melbourne Burning
Not that one by Arthur Boyd
It was Howard Arkley's 'Large House With A Fence"