I used to live my life in celluloid   Bent the light around the flashbulb glare   But when you end up on the cover of every checkout magazine   You learn to either hide it better or not at all      I used to live my life nailed to the page   To mirror, razorblade and fisheye lens   I've seen the world turn circles and shake the inkspots off   But everything's typed-up metaphors or unnecessary      So I've been spending half my life   Just trying to wake up   But I'm bound always to painkillers and sleep-inducers   Everything that keeps you down      I used to see my name on overheads   Heard my history on intercoms   And it's not that no one cared   No, everybody cared a bit too much   Vicarious or scapegoat?   It's all the same      So I've been spending half my life   Just trying to avoid the limelight   And the other half, replacing all the bulbs   And aiming cameras, Vaseline   Everything that keeps you down      I used to live my life in golden chairs   But it's all quartz and pyrite nowadays anyway   The supermarket impulse line   That half-hour space between news and prime time   It's these things keep you down eternally      So I've been spending half my life   Just trying to make it all right   With scripted courier solutions and strikethrough lies   Everything that keeps you down