Can't Win
Richard Thompson

I started to cry, they put gin in my cup

I started to crawl and they swaddled me up

I got up and run, they said, easy son

Play up, play the game


They told me to think and forget what I'd heard

They told me to lie and then questioned my word

They taught me to fail, better sink than sail

Just play the game


Oh towers will tumble and locusts will visit the land

Oh a curse on your house and your children and the fruit of your hand


They said you can't win, you can't win

You sweat blood, you give in

You can't win, you can't win

Turn the cheek, take it on the chin

Don't you dare do this don't you dare do that

We harpoon dreams, we stiletto in the back

The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people

The nerve of some people

I don't know who you think you are, who you think you are


Oh what kind of mother would hamstring her sons

Throw sand in their eyes and put ice on their tongues

Better to leave than stay here and grieve

And play the game


Don't waken the dead as you sleepwalk around

If you have a dream, brother, hush, not a sound

Stand there and rust, and die if you must

But play the game


Oh if we can't have it, why should a wretch like you?

Oh it was drilled in our heads, now we drill it into your head too


You can't win, you can't win

You sweat blood, you give in

You can't win, you can't win

Turn the cheek, take it on the chin

Don't you dare do this don't you dare do that

We harpoon dreams, we stiletto in the back

The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people

The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people


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Lyrics by Richard Thompson

  1952 Vincent Black Lightning   1952 Vintage Black Lightning   A Brother Slips Away   A Blind Step Away   A Bone Through Her Nose   A Heart Needs A Home   A Love You Can't Survive   A Poisoned Heart And A Twisted Memory   A Sailor's Life   A Sailor's Life   A Solitary Life   Al Bowlly's In Heaven   Al Bowlly's In Heaven   Alexander Graham Bell   Am I Wasting My Love On You?   Among the Gorse, Among the Grey   Any Old Body   Baby Don't Know What To Do With Herself   Baby Don't Know What To Do With Herself   Baby Talk   Backlash Love Affair   Bad Again   Bad Monkey   Bad News Is All The Wind Can Carry   Bank Vault In Heaven   Banks Of The Sweet Primroses   Beat The Retreat   Beeswing   Begging Bowl   Big Chimney   Big Sun Falling in the River   Bird On A Wire   Blackleg Miner   Bogie's Bonnie Belle   Bogie's Bonnie Belle   Book Song   Both Ends Burning   Burning Man   Burns Supper   Business On You   Calvary Cross   Can't Win   Cash Down Never Never   Chelsea Morning   Civilisation   Close The Door Lightly When You Go   Cold Feet   Cold Kisses   Cooksferry Queen   Crash The Party   Crawl Back ( Under My Stone )   Crazy Man Michael   Cressida   Dad's Gonna Kill Me   Danny Boy   Dark Hand Over My Heart   Dead Man's Handle   Dead Man's Handle   Dear Landlord   Devonside   Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed   Died For Love   Dimming Of The Day   Doctor Of Physick   Don't Let A Thief Steal Into Your Heart   Don't Renege On Our Love   Don't Tell Secrets   Don't Tempt Me   Don't Let A Thief Steal Into Your Heart   Don't Sit On My Jimmy Shands   Don't Tell Secrets   Don't Tempt Me   Down Where The Drunkards Roll   Drifting Through The Days   Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee   Drowned Dog Black Night   Dry My Tears And Move On   Eastern Rain   Easy There Steady Now   False Or True   Farewell, Farewell   Fast Food   Fire In The Engine Room   First Light   Flowers Of The Forest   For Shame Of Doing Wrong   For The Sake Of Mary   For Whose Sake?   Francesca   Friday on My Mind   From Galway To Graceland   Genesis Hall   Georgie On A Spree   Gethsemane   Gethsemane [DVD]   Ghosts In The Wind   God Loves A Drunk   Good Things Happen To Bad People   Grey Walls   Guns Are The Tongues   Gypsy Love Songs   Hai Sai Oji-san / Hey Man!   Hand Of Kindness   Happy Days And Auld Lang Syne   Hard Luck Stories   Has He Got A Friend For Me?   Hide It Away   Hokey Pokey (Live)   Hokey Pokey (Revised Version 2004)   Hokey Pokey (The Ice Cream Song)   Honky Tonk Blues   House Of Cards   How Does Your Garden Grow?   How I Wanted To   How Many Times   How Will I Ever Be Simple Again   I Ain't Going To Drag My Feet No More   I Ain't Going To Drag My Feet No More   I Can't Wake Up To Save My Life   I Can't Wake Up To Save My Life   I Feel So Good   I Found a Stray   I Misunderstood   I Ride In Your Slipstream   I Still Dream   I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight   I'll Regret It All In The Morning   I'm A Dreamer   I'll Never Give It Up   I'll Regret It All In The Morning   I'm A Dreamer   I'm Turning Off A Memory (BBC)   If It Feels Good, You Know It Can't Be Wrong   If It Feels Good, You Know It Can't Be Wrong   If Love Whispers Your Name   It Don't Cost Much   It Don't Cost Much   Jack O'Diamonds   Jealous Words   Jealousy   Jennie   Jerusalem On The Jukebox   Jet Plane In A Rocking Chair   Johnny's Far Away   Josef Locke   Just The Motion   Keep Your Distance   Killerman Gold Posse   Killing Jar   King Of Bohemia   Kiss   Last Shift   Layla   Legal Matter   Let It Blow   Little Blue Number   Loch Lomond   Lonely Hearts   Long Dead Love   Long John Silver   Lotteryland   Love In A Faithless Country   Love Is Bad For Business   Lovers' Lane   Lovers' Lane   Madness Of Love   Man In Need   March Of The Cosmetic Surgeons   Mary And Joseph   Mascara Tears   Matty Groves   Meet On The Ledge   Mgb-Gt   Million Dollar Bash   Mind Your Own Business   Mingus Eyes   Miss Patsy   Missie How You Let Me Down   Mole In A Hole   Mother Knows Best   Mr Rebound   Mr. Lacey   Mr. Rebound   Mr. Stupid   Mrs. Rita   My Soul, My Soul   Mystery Wind   Nearly In Love   Never Again   Night Comes In   No Man's Land   No Man's Land   Nobody's Wedding   Nobody's Wedding   Nottamun Town   Now Be Thankful   Oh I Swear   Old Man Inside A Young Man   Old Thames Side   One Door Opens   Outside Of The Inside   Painted Ladies   Pavanne   Pearly Jim   Peppermint Rock   Persuasion   Pharaoh   Poor Ditching Boy   Poor Will And The Jolly Hangman   Poppy-red   Precious One   Psycho Street   Put It There Pal   Put Your Trust In Me   Rainbow Over The Hill   Razor Dance   Razor Dance [Live]   Read About Love   Reckless Kind   Reno, Nevada   Restless Boy   Restless Highway   Reynardine   Roll Over Vaughan Williams   Row, Boys, Row   Salford Sunday   Sally B   Sam Hall   Sam Jones   Saturday Rolling Around   Shady Lies   Shaky Nancy   Shane And Dixie   She Cut Off Her Long Silken Hair   She Moves Through The Fair   She Said It Was Destiny   She Sang Angels to Rest   She Steers By Lightning   She Twists The Knife Again   Shenandoah   Shine On Love   Shoot Out The Lights   Should I Betray?   Si Tu Dois Partir   Sibella   Sidney Wells   Sir Patrick Spens   Sisters   Smiffy's Glass Eye   So Ben Mi Ca Bon Tempo   Some Sweet Day   Strange Affair   Stumble On   Sunnyvista   Sunset Song   Surfin' Usa   Suzanne   Sweet Little Rock'n'roller   Sweetheart On The Barricade   Take Care The Road You Choose   Taking My Business Elsewhere   Tam Lin   Tear Stained Letter   The Angels Took My Racehorse Away   The Ballad Of Easy Rider   The Boys Of Mutton Street   The Calvary Cross   The Dark End Of The Street   The End Of The Rainbow   The Fool   The Ghost Of You Walks   The Great Valerio   The Little Beggar Girl   The New St George   The Old Changing Way   The Same Thing   The Snow Goose   The Sun Never Shines On The Poor   The Way That It Shows   Things You Gave Me   Time To Ring Some Changes   To Hang A Dream On   Too Late To Come Fishing   Traces Of My Love   Train Don't Leave   Turning Of The Tide   Twisted   Uninhabited Man   Valerie   Walk Awhile   Walking On A Wire   Walking The Long Miles Home   Walking Through A Wasted Land   Wall Of Death   Waltzing's For Dreamers   Watch Me Go   We Sing Hallelujah   Wheely Down   When I Get To The Border   When The Spell Is Broken   When We Were Boys At School   Who Knows Where The Time Goes?   Why Do You Turn Your Back?   Why Must I Plead   Will You Dance, Charlie Boy   Will You Dance, Charlie Boy?   Withered And Died   Woods Of Darney   Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen   Yankee Go Home   Yankee, Go Home   You Don't Say   You Dream Too Much

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