Respectable Street
by XTC

Album: Black Sea (1980)
Play Video
  • Heard the neighbor slam his car door
    Don't he realize this is Respectable Street?
    What'd you think he bought that car for?
    'Cause he realized this is Respectable Street

    Now they talk about absorption
    In cosmopolitan proportions to their daughters
    As they speak of child prevention
    And immaculate receptions on their portable
    Sony entertainment centers

    Heard the neighbor slam his car door
    Don't he realize this is Respectable Street?
    What'd you think he bought that car for?
    'Cause he realized this is Respectable Street

    Now she speaks about diseases
    And which proposition pleases best her old man
    Avon lady fills the creases
    When she manages to squeeze in past the caravans
    That never move from their front gardens

    Heard the neighbor slam his car door
    Don't he realize this is Respectable Street?
    What'd you think he bought that car for?
    'Cause he realized this is Respectable Street

    It's in the order of their hedgerows
    It's in the way their curtains open and close
    It's in the look they give you down their nose
    All part of decency's jigsaw I suppose

    Sunday church and they look fetching
    Saturday night saw him stretching over our fence
    Bang the wall for me to turn down
    I can see them with their stern frown as they dispense
    The kind of look that says they're perfect

    Heard the neighbor slam his car door
    Don't he realize this is Respectable Street?
    What'd you think he bought that car for?
    'Cause he realized this is Respectable Street

    He realized this is Respectable Street
    He realized this is Respectable Street
    He realized this is Respectable Street Writer/s: Andy Partridge
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 1

  • Lisa Benavides from Monterey, CaIncredible song with appropriately cynical lyrics. Partridge has always been one to make the audience think.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues

Justin Hayward of The Moody BluesSongwriter Interviews

Justin wrote the classic "Nights In White Satin," but his fondest musical memories are from a different decade.

90s Metal

90s MetalFact or Fiction

Test your metal - Priest, Maiden, and Beavis and Butt-head show up in this one.

Arrested For Your Art - The Story Of 2 Live Crew's "Obscene" Album

Arrested For Your Art - The Story Of 2 Live Crew's "Obscene" AlbumSong Writing

In the summer of 1990, you could get arrested for selling a 2 Live Crew album or performing their songs in Southern Florida. And that's exactly what happened.

Peter Lord

Peter LordSongwriter Interviews

You may not recognize his name, but you will certainly recognize Peter Lord's songs. He wrote the bevy of hits from Paula Abdul's second album, Spellbound.

Producer Ron Nevison

Producer Ron NevisonSong Writing

Ron Nevison explains in very clear terms the Quadrophenia concept and how Heart staged their resurgence after being dropped by their record company.

Ed Roland of Collective Soul

Ed Roland of Collective SoulSongwriter Interviews

The stories behind "Shine," "December," "The World I Know" and other Collective Soul hits.