Mr. X (Gets Tense) [The Peel Sessions]

[Verse 1]
The current affair gets to be my business
I heard the news on the radio:
The Sun on Earth... what is this?
Is that the way that the crazy goes?

[Verse 2]
Attention tuned to the satellites
I'm looking down for an overview
In the chapel of space we are acolytes
In the battle of time we're all soldiers too
And the relative choir push the energy higher
Under fire
(Under firе, under ice)

[Verse 3]
The sliding show in thе macroscopic
Finger on the button pointing to progress
The apparatus rolls, no-one here can stop it
Too busy learning more – always knowing less
Soon turkey-wrapped in the spaceman blanket
We'll offer up lame duck apologies
And settle down for the final banquet
The gourmet dish of technology...
Cryogenic device catches all human life
Under ice

[Instrumental Break]

[Bridge]
Under fire, under ice
Under fire or under ice

[Verse 4]
The current affair gets to be all our business
It's filtered in through the T.V. screens
The norm, the average... what is this?
When it goes blank what does that all mean?
And what's the drive of each individual?
And what's the way that the story ends?
Is it Mr. X, left as the last residual
Holder of the torch, conscience of all men?
He's so tense to expire
Although e throws himself on the wire
Under fire
(Under fire, under ice)

[Outro]
(Under fire)
Is this the way the world ends?
(Under ice)
(Under fire?)
Has there been some mistaken design?
(Under ice)
Got to find the human voice
Lord, deliver us from Babel
[?]