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There was a lot of rocking going on that night
Cruising time for the young, bright lights
Just down past the gasworks, by the meat factory door
The five lamp boys were coming on strong
The Saturday night city beat had already started and the
The pulse of the corner boys just sprang into action
And young Billy watched it under the yellow street light
And said tonight of all nights there's gonna be a fight
Billy don't like it living here in this town
He says traps have been sprung long before he was born
He says hope bites the dust behind all the closed doors
And pus and grime ooze from its scab-crusted sores
There's screaming and crying in the high-rise blocks
It's a rat trap, Billy, but you're already caught
And you can make it if you want to or you need it bad enough
You're young and good-looking and you're acting kind of tough
Anyway it's Saturday night, time to see what's going down
Put on a bright suit, Billy, head for the right side of town
It's only eight o'clock, but you're already bored
You don't know what it is, but there's got to be more
You'd better find a way out, hey, kick down that door
It's a rat trap, and you've been caught
In this town Billy says everybody's trying to tell you what to do
In this town Billy says everybody says you gotta follow rules
You walk up to the traffic lights
You switch from your left to your right
You push in that button, and that button comes alight
And it's
Walk, don't walk, walk, don't walk
Talk, don't talk, talk, don't talk
Walk, don't walk, walk, don't walk
Talk, don't talk, talk, don't talk
Hey, Billy, take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Billy, take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Billy, take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Hey, Billy take a walk with me
Well, little Judy's trying to watch Top of the Pops
But mum and dad are fighting, don't they ever stop
She takes off her coat and walks down to the street
It's cold on that road, but it's got that home beat
Deep down in her pocket she finds 50p
Hey, is that any way for a young girl to be
I'm gonna get out of school, work in some factory
Work all the hours God gave me, get myself a little easy money
Now, now, now, na na
Her mind's made up, she walks down the road,
Her hands in her pockets, coat buttoned against the cold
She finally finds Billy down at the Italian cafe
And when he's drunk it's hard to understand what Billy says
But then he mumbles in his coffee and he suddenly roars
It's a rat trap Judy and we've been caught
Cruising time for the young, bright lights
Just down past the gasworks, by the meat factory door
The five lamp boys were coming on strong
The Saturday night city beat had already started and the
The pulse of the corner boys just sprang into action
And young Billy watched it under the yellow street light
And said tonight of all nights there's gonna be a fight
Billy don't like it living here in this town
He says traps have been sprung long before he was born
He says hope bites the dust behind all the closed doors
And pus and grime ooze from its scab-crusted sores
There's screaming and crying in the high-rise blocks
It's a rat trap, Billy, but you're already caught
And you can make it if you want to or you need it bad enough
You're young and good-looking and you're acting kind of tough
Anyway it's Saturday night, time to see what's going down
Put on a bright suit, Billy, head for the right side of town
It's only eight o'clock, but you're already bored
You don't know what it is, but there's got to be more
You'd better find a way out, hey, kick down that door
It's a rat trap, and you've been caught
In this town Billy says everybody's trying to tell you what to do
In this town Billy says everybody says you gotta follow rules
You walk up to the traffic lights
You switch from your left to your right
You push in that button, and that button comes alight
And it's
Walk, don't walk, walk, don't walk
Talk, don't talk, talk, don't talk
Walk, don't walk, walk, don't walk
Talk, don't talk, talk, don't talk
Hey, Billy, take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Billy, take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Billy, take a walk, take a walk, take a walk
Hey, Billy take a walk with me
Well, little Judy's trying to watch Top of the Pops
But mum and dad are fighting, don't they ever stop
She takes off her coat and walks down to the street
It's cold on that road, but it's got that home beat
Deep down in her pocket she finds 50p
Hey, is that any way for a young girl to be
I'm gonna get out of school, work in some factory
Work all the hours God gave me, get myself a little easy money
Now, now, now, na na
Her mind's made up, she walks down the road,
Her hands in her pockets, coat buttoned against the cold
She finally finds Billy down at the Italian cafe
And when he's drunk it's hard to understand what Billy says
But then he mumbles in his coffee and he suddenly roars
It's a rat trap Judy and we've been caught
Lyrics submitted by K-nuxXx
Track duration: 05:11
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It was written by Bob Geldof and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange.
It replaced "Summer Nights", a hit single for John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John from the soundtrack of Grease, at number one in the UK charts after Summer Nights' seven week reign at the top.
When the band performed the song on Top of the Pops (which is also mentioned in the song) in 1978, the band members began by tearing up pictures of Travolta and Newton-John. Alan Homes did not appear; Geldof mimed the saxophone part on a candelabra, a jest referring to the TOTP practice of bands miming to a backing track.
In the music video, various members of the band are seen reading copies of the novel "Rat Trap" by Welsh author Craig Thomas, although the book has no connection to the song. The lyric about "puss and grime..." was changed to "blood and tears pour down the drains and the sewers".
One of the more popular Boomtown Rats songs, it was performed by them at Live Aid and is still performed by Geldof to this day.
In 1996 Geldof recorded a self-mocking cover version of the song with Dustin The Turkey.
Somehow, this is even worse than when I found out that Jeffrey off Rainbow was working as a shelf stacker in a supermarket.
They were soldiers once, and young...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
As for Gerry Cott, it is not ALL bad. He is actually doing what he loves. And he still plays.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
Unlike Garry Roberts who became an insurance salesman and then went into boiler maintenance.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
did u know that???