No Ordinary Return

Steve Skaith / Mike Jones

Lyrics

Blood on a Burberry Jacket
Streaked but it won’t soak through
There’s a young man praying
For a passing patrol car.
On a street that they don’t go to.

This is no ordinary return
The day turned lethal
This is no ordinary return
Should have taken the “special”
This is no ordinary return.

Grip on a stolen cheque-card
He was going to sign it there
There’s a diesel stopping for the snappiest shopper
All dressed to kill in his leisure wear.

A blue, blue sky
Goes rolling over and over
Till the smoke comes pouring
From a stolen Rover.

Crowd at the ticket turnstile
Set for a seat in the stand
And they all pass running
Till there’s one of them stretched out
Marked by more than the makers brand.

Song Description

A young man sits at the roadside and prays that a police car will pass by. There’s blood on his expensive Burberry jacket, which as a football fan he just had to wear. He should have taken one of the special trains for away games rather than a normal train. But on the “football specials” the police ride along. The fans who want to go out on the rampage therefore prefer the “ordinary return”, the normal train. Before the match they like to spend t heir time stealing expensive cars and setting fire to them when the tank is empty. A seat on the platform is for them a status symbol. On the way to the ground opposing fas clashed and the young man in the fashionable leisure clothes lies and waits in vain for rescue. Because the police don’t patrol in this area.