| Battling the bottle, fighting the flab, |
| At war with the world |
| Battling the bottle, fighting the flab |
| At war with the world |
| Everybody ran when they heard the sound |
| Of handgun fire in the centre of town |
| I didn’t know her name, but I knew the face |
| Of the sports personality who started the race |
| I was a long way away from my personal best |
| With scotch on my breath and the front of my vest |
| And now my wife’s left and she’s taken the kids |
| I really know what long-distance loneliness is |
| Battling the bottle, fighting the flab, |
| At war with the world |
| Battling the bottle, fighting the flab |
| At war with the world |
| This is the closest thing I’ve ever come to being a tourist |
| In forty years of living here I never got around to it |
| I’ve never seen the curve of the Admiralty Arch |
| Or the sailors who served on the Cutty Sark |
| Ten miles in, and I’m feeling the pain |
| A jazz band’s playing and it’s starting to rain |
| The bunions and blisters are like stones in my shoes |
| And I’ve already spent the sponsor money on booze |
| Battling the bottle, fighting the flab, |
| At war with the world |
| Battling the bottle, fighting the flab |
| At war with the world |
| After two hours fifty-nine, I hit the wall |
| My six month’s training meant nothing at all |
| Beached like a whale with my gut in my hands |
| I tried and I failed as a marathon man |
| In less than a week, I’d be putting away |
| My get-up-and-go will have got up and gone |
| And I’d be back down low where I started from |
| Battling the bottle, fighting the flab, |
| At war with the world |