The Kinks — The Million-Pound-Semi-Detached

Haven't we come a long way From newly-weds in our bed-sitter flat? We skimped and scraped every penny For a down payment on our semi-detached New towns for all the young hopefuls A garden suburb with mortgage attached Oh, look at us now, sale all agreed, now it's time to exchange the contracts With the people who sold us a million-pound semi Straight out of national service Demob suits and short back and sides And saw the bomb sites turned air-raid shelters Where their families lived all of their lives Then the nation built them a utopia With pebbledash on the outside, oh Look at them now, they've come a long way, they are affluent and bursting with pride Soon we'll be sitting inside that million-pound semi-detached Detached, in our million-pound semi-detached Looking back at the past of this million-pound semi Two up two down, a back garden, that was the dream Two kids, a cat and a dog, that was the scheme Then the kids both grew up and got married and moved out of home Then we were strangers again, together alone Look at us now, what are we like Sitting alone in our million-pound semi-detached? They're all taking early retirement, the sum total of all of their lives Now the country is fat with inflation, immigration has helped us survive Once an Englishman's home was his castle Now it's a freehold investment to buy, oh Look at us now, our debts are all paid, and the Empire has really struck back We're the proud owners of a one-million-pound semi-detached So detached in our million-pound semi-detached A new generation is buying and starting anew And learning by all their mistakes the way people do Like all the young hopefuls we're buying the future from you We hope that one day we'll understand what you've both been through Look at us now, what are we like Sitting alone, in our million-pound semi-detached? Look at us now, what are we like Sitting alone, in our million-pound semi-detached?