Second-Hand Car Spiv lyrics

Song information

Artist: Kinks
Album: Preservation: Act 2

Lyrics

Sung by spiv, flash & floosies

Spiv: I was born a slum gutter infantile
Brute-force educated, delinquent juvenile
I am a product of mass produced factory fodder
Streets full of tenement blocks, rat infested filth and squalor
I left school, went straight on the dole
And unemployment's no enjoyment
Welfare state owned my mind and my body and my soul
So I worked my way up to be a second-hand car spiv
But don't judge me harshly because I'm just a slum kid
I built up my business with a quick wit and fist
So don't double-cross me or my hoods will dissect you
With their black jacks and shiv
Slum kids never get a break, they've got to fight their way up
Wheel and deal, beg and steal
Sweat blood to earn a buck
I didn't want to work on the factory floor
I wasn't content, I wanted more
Than to be a slave of a lathe
Work all day and go home bored
So a second- hand car spiv was what I became
I built an empire because I used my brains

Chorus: he was a second-hand car spiv up from the slums
So don't judge him harshly because he's just a slum kid
Then he moved into property, stocks and shares

Spiv: and into high finance and you've got to agree
That running a multi-million corporation
Sure beats selling cars second-hand

Chorus: once he sold old worn out heaps to the punters on the street

Spiv: now I'm in control of the country as a whole
And the world is at my feet

Chorus: the world is at his feet

Spiv: power, power, I've got power oozing out of me
And when you think of all the things I've done
It says a lot for one
Who worked his way up from the streets
Yes I'm a second-hand car spiv
Do a deal, buy and sell
It's my trade, I know it well
Make a sale, ring the bell
And let the suckers go to hell
Bank the profits, count the change
Another sucker comes your way
Life is a crooked game
And slum kids never change

[from http://lyrics.doheth.co.uk]

"Preservation: Act 2" album track list