Blowing Off Steam - Abney Park

Where’s the tattooed muscle men

With furled brows a-pullin'?

Where’s the buxom fashion queen

With thin-aired curls a-curlin'?

Where’s the angry nomad minstrel

Growlin' out a lullaby?

Where’s the edgy circus folk?

Or have they said goodbye?

Where’s the soiled and rusty builders

Welding iron sculptures?

Where’s the clockwork fellow-beaters

Circled in like vultures?

Where’s the darkened cabaret

Filled with new nostalgics?

Where has everything I loved gone?

Oh, the loss is tragic!

All alone in a crowd

With strangers who all know me

And I try to be friends

But there’s no one here who chose me

Should I run?

Should I hide?

Should I change my life completely?

Should I hold me inside?

Or keep my anger hid discreetly?

Where’s the crazy fire folk

Spinning warmth a-blazin'?

Where’s the muscled aerialist

In the sky amazing?

Where’s the dreadlocked cowboy

Head-to-toe in ancient leather?

Where’s the pretty painted ladies

Behind their fans of feathers?

All alone in a crowd

With strangers who all know me

And I try to be friends

But there’s no one here who chose me

Should I run?

Should I hide?

Should I change my life completely?

Should I hold me inside?

Or keep my anger hid discreetly?

Where’s the slender flapper girls

In silken gowns and pearls?

Where’s the threadbare waltzers

Paintin' the floors in curls?

Where’s my life-confirming friends

Or did I ever have them?

Where’s the brazen, angry artists?

Tell me what replaced them!

All alone in a crowd

With strangers who all know me

And I try to be friends

But there’s no one here who chose me

Should I run?

Should I hide?

Should I change my life completely?

Should I hold me inside?

Or keep my anger hid discreetly?