Alex Harvey - Next

classic ....

N E X T

Naked as sin
An army towel, wrapped around my belly
Some of us weep, some of us howl
Knees turn to jelly, but Next! Next!

I was just a child
A hundred like me
I followed the naked body
And the naked body followed me, Next! Next!

I was just a child when my innocence was lost
In a mobile army whorehouse
A gift of the army, free of cost. Next! Next! Next!

Me, I really would have liked a little bit of tenderness
Maybe a word, maybe a smile, maybe some happiness, but Next! Next!

It was not so tragic
and heaven did not fall
But how much at the time
I hated being there at all, Next! Next!

I still recall the brothel trucks, and the flying flags
The queer lieutenant slapped our arses
thinking we were fags. Next! Next! Next!

I swear on the wet head of my
first case of gonorrhea
It is his ugly voice that I forever hear, Next! Next!

A voice that stinks of whisky, corpses and of mud
The voice of nations
The thick voice of blood, Next! Next!

Since then each woman I have taken into bed
They seem to lie in my arms
And they whisper in my head, Next! Next! Next!

All the naked and the dead
Could hold each other's hands
As they watch me scream at night
In a dream that nobody understands

And though I am not dreaming in a voice grown dry and hollow
I stand on endless naked lines of the following and the followed
and Next! Next!

One day I'll cut my legs off
I'll burn myself alive
I'll do anything to get out of life, to survive

Not ever to be next, Next! Next!

Next!