council flat

Seventh floor up on Griffith John Street
Scaffolding rising right under his feet
Walked in the bathroom, the floor was a lake
Just another promise the council would break
The drainage pump died and the water stood still
Two weeks of waiting, a bitter old pill
No place to wash off the dust of the day
He looked to the balcony, finding a way

[Chorus]
And he's showering out on the balcony high
Under the gray of a cold Swansea sky
With a garden hose rigged to the hot water tap
Trying to break through the council trap
Embarrassed and tired of asking around
While the world carries on down there on the ground
Yeah, he’s washing away all the stress and the pain
On the seventh-floor balcony, out in the rain

[Verse 2]
A worker came down on July thirty-first
Said he was nice, but the luck was the worst
Specialized in drains, not the pump that he need
So the bureaucratic wheels slowed down their speed
August the fourth, he stayed home all day
Just walking his dog by the block entryway
Nobody showed, or at least that he knew
While the days ticked on by and the frustration grew

[Chorus]
And he's showering out on the balcony high
Under the gray of a cold Swansea sky
With a garden hose rigged to the hot water tap
Trying to break through the council trap
Embarrassed and tired of asking around
While the world carries on down there on the ground
Yeah, he’s washing away all the stress and the pain
On the seventh-floor balcony, out in the rain

[Bridge]
August the tenth brought a brand-new machine
But an electrical fault hit the circuit clean
Fuses were tripping, the sparks started to fly
He went to the dentist while a sparky passed by
The next day they came for a smoke alarm chore
Leaving the shower broke down on the floor
Until August twelfth when the wires were aligned
And he finally left the cold balcony behind

[Verse 3]
But the shower was only a piece of the tale
Of a high-rise system beginning to fail
Took them a year just to change out his door
He fixed up the damp on his own kitchen floor
A leak from above in the month of December
Killed all of his fish, a sad day to remember
The odd-floor lift breaks down half of the time
In a place where he feels unsafe with the crime

[Outro]
Now the water is running where it’s supposed to flow
But the scars of the high-rise are slower to go
Just a man and his dog trying to find some peace
Waiting for the day that the troubles will cease
Yeah, the shower is fixed, but the memory stays
Of the garden hose balcony days
[Fade out]
[End]