[Hook: Sixties hard-soul shouter male MC, raw rasp, full band hits, tambourine on the two and four] Front row every time, and you never take a day Hate it on the first play, hate it on the replay Gold star on your forehead, you're the first one in the joint You never miss a song, you just miss the point [Verse 1: Hard-soul shouter, sneering over huge live drums and the clean guitar riff] Good God, let me read you what your record says you did Every time I drop a song, you're on it like a kid Twelve oh one, you're listenin', twelve oh two, you type it's fake Twelve oh three, you run it back to find a flaw to make Said it isn't music on a Tuesday in the rain Then you played it seven times to make sure you could still complain Got a folder with my name on it, a calendar, a pen Circle every Friday like it's Christmas for you, friend Hey, you never kept a hobby or a houseplant past a week But you study every bar I write like Latin or like Greek Three years, never late, never sick, never gone Brother, that's a pension, and you're earnin' it on a song [Hook: Hard-soul shouter, raw rasp, full band hits, tambourine on the two and four] Front row every time, and you never take a day Hate it on the first play, hate it on the replay Gold star on your forehead, you're the first one in the joint You never miss a song, you just miss the point [Verse 2: Hard-soul shouter, tighter, handclaps and deep bass punching the gaps] Your buddies tell you let it go, you tell 'em not a chance You hated every chorus that I ever made you dance Caught you noddin' at a red light, and you blamed it on your neck Caught you hummin' in the checkout while they're runnin' your check You're the biggest billboard on the road I never paid to rent Every time you holler skip it, they go find out what you meant Hey, a critic hears it once, he writes it up, and then he leaves You been here since the first one with your heart up on your sleeve [Verse 3: Hard-soul shouter, cymbal choke on "nothin' there for you", one held bar, then he hollers it back] So we took a week off just to see what you would do Twelve oh one on Monday, and there's nothin' there for you You refreshed it at the breakfast, you refreshed it on the train Wrote where'd they go at lunchtime, then you wrote it out again Tuesday you were pacin', Wednesday you were sore Thursday you were askin' folks if they had heard of us before Friday we came back, and you were first, you know the drill Front row, hatin' every bar, and grinnin' through it still Hey, I read you all your record, brother, every single scene You never miss a song, but man, you sure did miss me [Final Hook: Hard-soul shouter, all the way up, full band and handclaps] Front row every time, and you never take a day Hate it on the first play, hate it on the replay Gold star on your forehead, you're the first one in the joint You never miss a song, you just miss the point [End]
