Morning of my fifteenth birthday Shoplifting celebratory sweets from Safeway No sooner have I left the supermarket I get collared Secret door, upstairs, check out my image on the multiple screens The manager's mean - calls the police to the scene I come clean - to no avail Legs between my tail The handcuffs hurt but I remember not to wail Then to the pig pen With a pair of big men Humiliation Lying on a blue mat It's juts like PE - but much rougher Third time here and I'm still not much tougher Watch me suffer Till about midday When the Head Of Year's here and I'm on my way Hey! Three hours late for my art GCSE My cheeks burn red as the other kids stare at my My Auntie Lexy's boyfriend the art teacher glares at me Feels like nobody cares for me I think carefully I'm like, damn Terrified of going back home to my Dad and my Mam I'd only just regained their trust, understand That's when I formulate a plan At the end of the day, hey, I'm gonna run away It's not that I wanna, I'm a gonner if I stay So I polish off that red letter box Then I'm off out of school Doobleanga down to Bangor station hit the first train to Liverpool I'm like, f** it Seven pound thirty in my pocket The ticket costs five pound something so that doesn't leave much from the deal So on arrival I'm a steal a meal And a bible Yo! Don't think I've ever been to Liverpoool before But I'm OK on my own Wandering alone Blood Brothers is on and I've a plan to get a job In the Burger King and rent a bedsit Maybe next week First though I've gotta find a place to sleep I walk the streets Meet - who*es, randoms, children, finally find an abandoned building Break in through a broken window I step inside, smells like somebody died Climb up these rickety stairs to find Someone'd already been there Needles and p**n everywhere Clumps of hair and a blanket, smashed gla**, blood, and a tooth Plus the place didn't have a roof I curl up in a ball on the ground Dream as the rain falls down. Wake up, shivering, shuddering, Just in the middle of dreaming about what could have been Should have been blowing out candles Should have been opening bangles Instead I've been moping with vandals Coping with thinking Soaked to the bone and I'm stinking Have a little moan then an inkling How I can have a shower, like - cool! Walk for about a half an hour then I find a swimming pool In Liverpool - I rule! No need to fool the lady at reception No deception in my conversation, I just mention my situation And the girl's like Hey kid, you can have a shower for free Here's some shampoo and a towel, you don't have to thank me So I wash, then I scuttle off, ashamed of myself Into town where I steal myself some breakfast off the shop shelf M & S, concerned about my dress so I plan to steal some trousers and a shirt This one's covered in dirt But that won't hurt for the present I scrawl "homeless" on some paper, sit my a** down on the pavement And it's not pleasant begging But some people seem to feel sorry for me sitting on the ground One lovely lady gives me twenty pounds, a note I practically gloat Gather up my coat, and the paper that I wrote homeless on Then on the W.H. Smiths, I steal some books, some graphic novels and some comics And I spend the afternoon in Maccy D's, Drinking milk shake, reading Spiderman and Tank Girl And the former gives me my new name Ben Riley I figure that I'll shave my head, and maybe one day I'll do Kylie Yeah I'm wiley and I'm optimistic, but here's the piss take They kick me out of Maccy D's And bugger me, it's freezing So I find myself a pub, in there I buy myself a coke I sit down at the back and I take of my steaming coat The landlord and the regulars they seem to share a joke They all laughing in my direction as I'm scheming and I hope they f**ing choke And die, I start to f**ing cry A wrinkly old lady wonders, and she asks me why Pick up my steaming coat, and streaming eyes I run outside Past some children to my building I curl up on the ground and lie As it was, I didn't last that long in Liverpool And that's because I made a phonecall to a friend from school No sooner had a I hung up, than a wagon pulled up Shouted "ADAM!" and I turned around, a pair of coppers ran me down I said, "my name's Ben Riley", but they didn't believe it Drove me back to the station where I played to Jesus And for a few hours, impatiently I waited For my folks to drive from Anglesey to Liverpool to strangle me I was as scared as I'd ever been But my Mam and Dad cared, so I shouldn't have been And that's the thing. Published by BMG Music Publishing. Lyrics reprinted with permission.