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Scott Walker

Naked as sin, an army towel
Covering my belly
Some of us blush, somehow
Knees turning to jelly
Next, next

I was still just a kid
There were a hundred like me
I followed a naked body
A naked body follwed me
Next, next

I was still just a kid
When my innocence was lost
In a mobile army whorehouse
Gift from the army, free of cost
Next, next

Me, I really would have liked
A little touch of tenderness
Maybe a word, just a smile
Some instant happiness
But no, no, next, next

Oh it, it wasn't so tragic
The high heavens didn't fall
But how much of that time
I hated being there at all
Next, next

Now I always will recall
The brothel truck, the flying flags
The queer lieutenant who slapped
Our asses as if we were fags
Next, you're next

I swear on the wet head
Of my first case of gonorrhea
It's his ugly voice
That I forever hear
Next, next

That voice that stinks of corpses
Of whiskey and of mud
It is the voice of nations
That thick voice of blood
Next, next

And since then, each woman
I have taken to bed
Seems to laugh in my arms
And whisper through my head
Next, next

All the naked and the dead
Should hold each other's hands
As they watch me scream at night
In a dream no one can understand
Next, next

And when I am not screaming
In a voice grown dry and hollow
I stand on endless naked lines
Of the following and the followed
Next, next

One day I'll cut my legs off
And burn myself alive
Anything, I'll do anything
To get out of line, just to survive
And never to be next
Oh, never to be next
Next