They keep moving us along
From place to place
Until we vanish without trace

So I keep moving on
From town to town
Until the ocean waves
Swallow me and I drown

So we run away
To the railway
Derelict and lonely

Scramble for a seat
And something to eat
Brambles grab my feet
They try to keep us off the streets

Hiding in our railway dens
Barbed wire hedges us into pens
Herding us from street to street
So we shake the dust from off our feet

Clamber over garden fences
Crawling through fox holes in hedges
We have stayed here for too long
So we'll go back where we belong
Beside the railway lines

But I've got no strings in this town
It makes me laugh when I am down
I've got no strings at all
You'll never hold me down

So I travel round
From town to town
Play my little heart out

Drowned out by planes
And screaming trains
Scavenge for remains
That fall half eaten from your table

This food chain
Feeds my shame
Doubled up with self doubt

In the pouring rain
Washed down the drain
Everyone's the same
Filled with same pain

Hiding in our railway dens
Barbed wire hedges us into pens
Herding us from street to street
So we shake the dust from off our feet

Clamber over garden fences
Crawling through fox holes in hedges
We have stayed here for too long
So we'll go back where we belong
Beside the railway lines

But I've got no strings in this town
It makes me laugh when I am down
I've got no strings at all
You'll never hold me down

In warehouses and railway sheds
We live beside the railway lines
Build a camp with wood that someone
Dumped between the railway lines
Huddle round a car fire
Toasting scraps and bacon rinds
Wrapped in singed and smokey carpet
Abandoned by the railway lines
Fish and chips and blackberries
We found behind the railway lines
On other people's mattresses
We lay beneath the railway lines
Forgotten houses, broken blinds
Piles of rubbish and for sale signs
Are all that's left of what was standing
Here before the railway lines

I'll spend my days
Beside the railway lines
Ill wend and I'll stray
Beside the railway lines
I'll rend and I'll fray
Beside the railway lines
I'll mend my ways
Beside the railway lines
I'll bend and go gray
Beside the railway lines
I'll end my stay
Beside the railway lines