words and music by Joe Jackson)



Sunday evening down the penny arcade

I see your face in the pinball game

Put in a quarter and it starts to fade

Tell myself it won't appear again

But this is just another game I've played so badly

Right from the start

And through the bells and buzzers you're still singing sadly

It tears me apart

The higher you fly

The farther you gotta fall



Chorus:

Tilt - you're pushing too hard

Try just another ball

Tilt - so why's it so hard

Keeping it under control



Take it easy take your time, you said

Take me home I'll see you soon enough

You say I'm pushing but it's in your head

I feel so helpless, you say I'm so tough

And now we fight it out until I just can't hear you

I can't understand

When all I want is just permission to be near you

Holding your hand

But nobody said

The lights would keep flashing red



Chorus



(C) 1980 Albion Music Ltd. Administered in the U.S. and Canada by

Almo Music Corp. (ASCAP