With your patterned knowledge of the past,
And the paisleys, stars and stripes
The struggles that entwined them
Printed artfully over white

Hung in your coffee bars
Your loft distressed walls,
Their politics kinda bores you
But the clothes suit you most of all.


(CHORUS)
All you wanted was a
A place in the world
Your flag to unfurl
As a tattered skirt girl.

You recited your swipes
On Tinder by rote
You stretched out your body
On that big wide digital slope

That morning a pensioner
Asked “How’d you vote?”
You nodded for an answer
As your headphones kept you remote


(CHORUS)
All you wanted was a
A place in the world
Your flag to unfurl
As a tattered skirt girl.

Last night’s Uber ride
You wept into your change
And vowed to hunt down all your friends
Who’d escaped the rifle range

Of self-interrogation.
While the troops you needed fast
Were screaming words their kings
Had teleprompted to the last.


(HARMONICA BREAK)

From the CNN desks
From the pay on demand
They lay back and think of you
On Arabian sands
It’s a quite a flattering experience
It’s an imaginary deliverance
White or black, covered or displayed
It’s you they want to lay

(CHORUS)
Pointing at you with their
Finger twirls
The stenciled street suburbs
All yours, tattered skirt girl.

Outro