Testo State Hospital

The half back-flip conception, State hospital birth
The most threadbare, tall story the country has ever heard
Brought home to breathe smoke in the arms of her mother
The blunt kitchen knife
Who just lays in a submissive position
Beneath a national weight and the slow arc of a fist

Her heart beats like a breezeblock thrown down the stairs Her blood is thicker than concrete
Forced to be brave, she was born into a grave

And in the limp three years of board schooling
She's accustomed to hearing that she could never run far
A slipped disc in the spine of community
A bloody curse word in a pedestrian verse
Spirits in graveyards and fingers in car parks
She cries on the high street just to be heard
A screaming anchor for nothing in particular
At the foot of the fuck of it
Dragging her heels in the dirt

Her heart beats like a breezeblock thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete Forced to be brave, she was born into a grave

The cheek of youth flashed red and turned gray
Now she lies on the pavement, she is helped to her feet
All thighs, hair and magpie handbags
Saturday's uniform for the 'fuck me' parade
Brought home to keep warm, in the arms of a plumber
Ruddy and balding
Who just needs a spine to dig into
A chest for the head, and a hand for the holding

Her heart beats like a breezeblock thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete
Forced to be brave, she was, she was

Her heart beats like a breezeblock thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete
Forced to be brave, she was
A broken elevator anthem held between floors
But if blood is thicker than concrete, all is not lost
All is not lost, all is not lost