[Intro | warm Rhodes chords, vinyl surface noise, soft distant hum] [Verse 1 | conversational offbeat flow, quiet introspective delivery, muted Rhodes and distant vinyl crackle] Same single mattress pressed against the wall Old school creps still sitting in the hall Poster peeling by the headboard frame Twenty-four winters and we speak the same Waiting on a council letter through the door Mum's working late so I sweep the kitchen floor Radiator clanking while the tea goes cold Feeling seventeen but we’re growing old Youth club shuttered back in twenty-ten Still outside the chicken shop with boys again Freezing by the bus stop in the autumn rain Running down the clock on an empty train Staring at a cracked phone screen till three Trapped between the kid and who we ought to be Big talk drifting in the stairwell smoke Laughing off the future like a playground joke [Pre-Chorus | sing-song melodic lift, building sub bass] Years slipping past through our open hands Too proud to ask, too young to understand Shadows stretching out down the paving stone Surrounded by the boys but you're all alone [Chorus | sung melodic hook, open vowels on sustained notes, warm piano and rolling 808] Walking round in a man’s coat Holding what we can’t hold (can't hold) Twenty winters on the same road Still a boy in a man’s coat (man's coat) [Verse 2 | behind the beat cadence, sharper delivery, drums drop in with crisp rimshot] Marcus had a baby back in June last year Still borrowing a tenner for a tin of beer Pushing that pram past the bookie shop Waiting for a penny or a break to drop Zero-hour shift down the retail park Walking back home through the winter dark Giving fifty quid to his mum for rent Wondering where every other pound just went Stunted in the soil where the concrete grows Everybody acts like nobody knows Grown men trapped in a childhood room Dusting off the corners with a kitchen broom Keys in the pocket with no door to unlock Standing on the pavement while we fight the clock Scared of twenty-five cause it means you're late Watching all the world move through the gate [Chorus | sung melodic hook, warm piano and rolling 808] Walking round in a man’s coat Holding what we can’t hold (can't hold) Twenty winters on the same road Still a boy in a man’s coat (man's coat) [Bridge | stripped back, drums drop out, intimate dry vocal over sustained Rhodes] No rite of passage, no bell that rings Just grey council flats and clipping wings They told us grow up, they gave no room Flowers trying to grow in the basement gloom (in the gloom) [Final Chorus | full arrangement, octave vocal layer, ad-libs in background] Walking round in a man’s coat Holding what we can’t hold (we can't hold) Twenty winters on the same road Still a boy in a man’s coat (let it go) Yeah, still a boy in a man's coat [Outro | spoken outro trailing into tape delay, solo Rhodes chords, fading vinyl crackle] Twenty-five on paper. Still sixteen in the bedroom. Turn the key. Lock the gate.
