These words are transcribed without permission the way they appear in Morrissey's "Viva Hate" album. Additions to the printed lyrics are in darker text while omissions are striken out.

Here is London ^{1, 2}
here is giddy London
is it home of the free,
or what?
can you squeeze me ³
into an empty page
of your diary
and psychologically save me ⁴
I've got faith in you
I sense the power
in the fingers
within an hour the power
can could totally destroy me
or it could save my life
here is London ^{1, 2}
'home of the brash, outrageous ⁵
and free'
You are repressed ⁶
but you're remarkably dressed
is it Real?
but you're far too and you're always busy ^{7, 8}
busy scissors really busy
busy busy clippers
hairdresser on fire
all around Sloane Square ⁹
and you're far too just so busy ^{10, 11}
to see me busy busy
"busy,busy" busy scissors
hairdresser on fire
(Only the other day) ¹²
was a client over-cautious
he made you nervous
and when he said
"I'm gonna sue you" ¹³
I really felt for you
so can you squeeze me ³
into an empty page of your diary
and supernaturally change me ¹⁴
CHANGE ME, CHANGE ME
here in London
'home of the brash, outrageous ⁵
and free'
You are repressed ⁶
but you're remarkably dressed
is it Real?
and you're always busy ^{7, 15}
really busy
busy clippers
hairdresser on fire
all around Sloane Square ⁹
and you're just too busy
to see me ¹⁶
busy clippers ¹⁷
hairdresser on fire ¹⁸

 

² In early unreleased outtakes of this song Morrissey sang "Here in London, busy London".

³ On the 2002 tour with no name and the 2004 You Are The Quarry tour Morrissey often sang "can you tease me into an empty page of your diary".

⁴ In most live performances of this song this line was humourously changed to "psychologically shave me" and sometimes even "supernaturally shave me".

⁵ These two lines were often changed on the 1999 Oye Esteban tour to "home of the flash, outrageous and free", "home of the rash, outrageous and free" or sometimes "home of the trash, outrageous and free". In 2000, 2002 and 2004 the most common version of that line was "home of the crass, outrageous and free".

⁶ On the Oye Esteban tour this line and the following two were changed to "you might be depressed, but you're remarkably dressed, and that's all you need". Sometimes Morrissey would change it to the first person and sing "I might be depressed, but I'm remarkably dressed, and that's all I need". In 2002 and 2004 he alternated between "you are depressed..." and "I am depressed..."

⁷ On early dates of the Oye Esteban tour: "and you're all so busy".

⁸ In early unreleased and uncirculated outtakes of this song Morrissey sang "and you're always busy / busy, busy / busy scissors".

⁹ In live performances of this song this line was always changed to "stoned around Sloane Square".

¹⁰ Early on the 1999 Oye Esteban tour and on the You Are The Quarry tour this line and the following two ones were changed to "just too busy, busy scissors, busy clippers" or close variations. In 2000 and 2002 Morrissey simply sang "just too busy, really busy, busy busy" on most dates.

¹¹ In early unreleased and uncirculated outtakes of this song Morrissey sang "oh you're just so busy / really busy / busy busy, oh yeah".

¹² In live performances of this song on the 2002 and 2004 tours this sounded like "all the day" or "all the days". This also seems to be what Morrissey sings in early unreleased and uncirculated versions of the song

¹³ On the Oye Esteban tour this line and the next were humourously changed to "when he said I'm gonna screw you, I really felt happy for you" or "...I felt so happy for you". On the 2002 and 2004 tours it became "I felt quite happy for you", except for a few dates where Morrissey took it further to "I felt quite jealous of you" or "I felt quite sorry for you".

¹⁴ In live performances of this song Morrissey sometimes sang "supernaturally save me, save me, save".

¹⁵ In early unreleased and uncirculated outtakes of this song Morrissey sang "oh you're just so busy / really busy / busy scissors, oh yeah".

¹⁶ In live performances of this song Morrissey always sang "too busy to kiss me".

¹⁷ In early unreleased and uncirculated outtakes of this song Morrissey sang "busy scissors".

¹⁸ In most live performances on the 2002 and 2004 tours Morrissey followed this final line with "all the day" or "all the days". He also did this in early unreleased and uncirculated outtakes of the song.

Quotes

In a 1988 interview to the NME, Morrissey said of this song "It's just a very simple song about trying to get hold of a hairdresser."