we used to go to the pictures, file out

deaf and stunned by what we'd seen

it never faded, the novelty, no movie

lacked a technicolour king or queen

 

now life's a film the thrills have died

every day's a banal double feature

screen stars ten a penny its routine

the vision of a monstrous creature

 

its no fun when you've seen it before

appetites jaded expectations so high

we live off a raw diet of new horrors,

demand super-heroes from the sky

 

now punters direct their own movies,

wannabees garish must be extreme

dog eats dog in Hollywood you live

or die by the fate of your last scene

 

get the thumbs down you are toast

if they like you the dollars cascade

kill grandad or make a snuff movie

its tinsel-time, you've got it made

 

facades rule now, tattoos hide tears

casting couches littered with blood

if they switch off, back to the sticks

used starlets that never made good

 

John Wayne he rode real human reels

simpler days of plots so slick and pat

changing my seat in the stalls, hiding

from that odd bloke with a bowler hat