In the earliest days
of my shoplifting career
you could safely say
I was filled with fear
It was nail-biting work
from the very start
but several quick successes soon
gave me heart
After a while I could
pick and nick with ease
Some shirts some trousers
and a few LP's
No one ever stopped me
they didn't seem to care
It sometimes seemed to me
there was no one there
Then a fine summers day
my mate Ted and me
set off down the West End
on our usual spree
Things were as normal
for an hour or so
then my nimble hands
were a bit too slow
Two store-detectives
made a fast approach
One grabbed my jacket
the other grabbed my throat
So we caught you at last
one said with joy
Been after you some time
my light-fingered boy
If only I'd remembered
my common sense
they captured me
red-handed with evidence
If I go to the manager
and say I'm sorry
maybe he'll forgive me
for my youthful folly
But what will
the social worker say
if if I don't come home today
He'll gimme a clout
What if they don't let me out
I I told 'em I'm on me own
Don't they understand
I'm from a broken home
I'll tell him
I'm the product
of a broken home
and I always went out
on my own
Was it too late
to say I'd pay and
I'll never steal again
till the end of my days
Because I had no friends
to call and such
money and possessions
I did not 'ave much
so I started to steal
in order to get by
the quickness of the hand
deceives the eye
Deceives the eye
the eye the eye
the eye the eye the eye