The Stick - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

Anxious Mo-Fo, my twin, my friend

Election time again, I wish that I was dead

Some conversation, if you’re well read

To calm the storm of shit that’s raging in my head

While languishing in basements: 10,000,000 corpses lashed to beds

Atrophied to archetypes by all the able artists overhead

Mixed light of evening, sky of the sea

You take the Old North Road 'cause that’s where you feel free

Your hidden backroads, your hidden dreams

A hidden cigarette that actually helps you breathe

Play an ancient mixtape, attempt a break from the routine

But dark on the horizon: form that’s never fully come to being

Still need a reason for your unease —

You think the government, it wants you on your knees

But I’ll tell you something, and here it is:

They want you driving to the supermarket, buying milk and cheese

And generating taxes to fuel their corn subsidies

You’re either nibbling at the carrot, or you get beat with the fasces