(Verse 1) It’s a god-awful small affair To the girl with the cobalt hair But her daddy is yelling “No!” And her mummy’s on the radio She’s hooked to the silver screen In a dress made of cellophane While the boys in the bunker play With a war that’s yesterday (Pre-Chorus) See the mice in their million hordes From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads Click the remote, the world explodes In a Technicolor overload (Chorus) Oh man, look at those cavemen go It’s the freakiest show Take a look at the lawman beating up the wrong guy Oh man, wonder if he’ll ever know He’s in the best-selling show Is there life on Mars? No, just ashes on the Moon (Verse 2) Now the workers have lost their fight In the neon cathedral light And the screen flickers Lennon’s face Saying “Peace is a marketplace” But the script is a shopping list For the dreams that the bankers missed And the sailors on satellite seas Are all drowning in MTV (Pre-Chorus) It’s on America’s tortured brow That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow And the flag is a brand, the brand is a shroud Turn it up, turn it up loud (Chorus) Oh man, look at those cavemen go It’s the freakiest show Take a look at the lawman beating up the wrong guy Oh man, wonder if he’ll ever know He’s in the best-selling show Is there life on Mars? No, just ashes on the Moon (Bridge) (Spoken, half-whispered over strings) The film is a saddening bore ’Cause I wrote it ten times or more It’s about to be writ again As I ask you to focus in… (Instrumental break – sax wails like a siren, piano hammers like a heartbeat) (Chorus – final, soaring) Oh man, look at those cavemen go It’s the freakiest show Take a look at the lawman beating up the wrong guy Oh man, wonder if he’ll ever know He’s in the best-selling show Is there life on Mars? No, just ashes on the Moon Ashes on the Moon Ashes… on… the Moon… (Outro – fading echo, distant radio static) Take me to the moon… Take me to the moon…
