The city chews up clueless blues Paints the views in no-man's news Blades will fade from blood sport The h**n's cut these fuses short Smoke is rolled in colonial pink Drink and frame this pain I think I'm melting silver poles my dear You beat your wings and then disappear The moving scenes and pilot lights Smithereens have got us scaling heights Modern times come talk me down The battle lines are drawn cross this town Parisian boys without your names Ghetto stones instead of chains Talk them down cause it's up in flames And nothing's changed Parisian boys without your names Riot like 1968 again The days of rage, yeah nothing's changed More pretty flames In school I would just bite my tongue And now your words they strike me dumb The flags are false and they contradict They point and click which wounds to lick On avenues this Christian breeze Turns us on to more needles please Our eyes roll back and we beg for more Rephrase this skin and then underscore The case for war you spin and bleed The cells you fill screensavers feed The girls you breed the soaps that you write The graceless charm of your gutter snipes The moving scenes and suburbanites And smithereens got us scaling heights Modern times come talk me down The battle lines are drawn across this town English boys without your names Ghetto stones instead of chains Hearts and minds and US Planes Nothing's changed And English boys without your names Riot like the 1980s again The days of rage, yeah nothing's changed More pretty flames