Shut Up and Eat Your Kinks

The Kinks: "20th Century Man"
from Muswell Hillbillies (1971)

This is the age of machinery,
A mechanical nightmare,
The wonderful world of technology,
Napalm, hydrogen bombs, biological warfare.

This is the twentieth century,
But too much aggravation.
It's the age of insanity.
What has become of the green, pleasant fields of Jerusalem?

Ain't got no ambition, I'm just disillusioned.
I'm a twentieth century man, but I don't wanna be here.

My mama said she can't understand me,
She can't see my motivation.
Just give me some security,
I'm a paranoid, schizoid product of the twentieth century.

You keep all your smart modern writers,
Give me William Shakespeare.
You keep all your smart modern painters,
I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough.

Girl, we gotta get out of here,
We gotta find a solution.
I'm a twentieth century man, but I don't want to die here.

Girl, we gotta get out of here,
We gotta find a solution.
I'm a twentieth century man, but I don't want to be here.

I was born in a welfare state,
Ruled by bureaucracy,
Controlled by civil servants
And people dressed in grey.
Got no privacy, got no liberty,
Cause the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me.

Don't wanna get myself shot down
By some trigger happy policeman.
Gotta keep a hold of my sanity
I'm a twentieth century man, but I don't wanna die here.

My mama says she can't understand me,
She can't see my motivation.
Ain't got no security,
I'm a twentieth century man, but I don't wanna die here.

This is the twentieth century,
But too much aggravation.
This is the edge of insanity,
I'm a twentieth century man, but I don't wanna be here.