Skag & Bone Man

Info

Skag & Bone Man is a track by The Libertines that was released as a B Side to both their US release, The I Get Along EP, and their second single, Up the Bracket. A live version from Brixton was also included on their single What Became of the Likely Lads, and the "What Became of the Likely Lads EP" that was only released in America.

Half way through the studio version, Doherty can be heard saying that the band have "fucked it all up" and "missed out half the song" before Gary Powell begins playing the drums and they kick back into the song.

In Kids in the Riot, Doherty says of the song; "Carl was completely out of his mind, he started using crack and heroin then when we were doing the first album, thought it was a big joke. We wrote a song called 'Skag and Bone Man' out of it, know what I mean? ... [The song] stands out because we wrote and recorded it all in a day. Just being able to take what was around me, all my feelings, all my emotions about everything and put it into a song, whip the band into shape and give Carl his little 30 seconds for his solo and just BANG! It was there and I was happy, I was proud." (pp.60-61)

The melody is inspired from Perry Como's "Catch a Falling Star."

Appearing on

What Became of the Likely Lads (Live, Brixton, 6.march 2004)	The Libertines	Single	2004-10-25
Whitechapel Demonstrations	Peter Doherty	Session	2004-04-06
I Get Along	The Libertines	Single	2003-09-01
Babyshambles Sessions	The Libertines	Session	2003-05
Up the Bracket [Single]	The Libertines	Single	2002-09-30
Horrorshow in London Town	The Libertines	Session	Unknown
Horrorshow in London Town	The Libertines	Session	Unknown
RAK revisited	The Libertines	Session	Unknown

Concerts

Rock Against Racism	The Libertines	London, UK	2004-03-16
Manchester Academy	The Libertines	Manchester, UK	2004-03-01
The Forum, 2003	The Libertines		2003-12-16
Paradiso, Amsterdam	The Libertines	Paradiso, Amsterdam	2003-05-19
Shinjuku Liquid Room, Tokyo	The Libertines	Higashi, Shibuya, Tokyo	2003-04-13
Live Eurosonic	The Libertines	Netherlands	2003-01-09
Sticky Fingers	The Libertines	Stockholm, Sweden	2002-12-18
Marquee Club, London	The Libertines	Marquee Club, London	2002-12-10
Le Cat, Bordeaux	The Libertines	Bordeaux, France	2002-12-01
Live at Razamatazz 2	The Libertines	Barcelona, Spain	2002-11-26
Magnet Club	The Libertines	Berlin, Germany	2002-11-13
Show more concerts
London Calling Live	The Libertines	Paradiso, Netherland	2002-11-09

Lyrics

Toodle pip
On and on and on and on and on and on
Like you even know what's going on
To this world that I'm thrown
Kill you before you're born
Pawn your soul to be number one

You say it's old fashioned that same old song
That's how your mother likes it all night long

We could stay at home and
Call the skag and bone man
Dig our grave out with a spoon
In the morning picking flowers
Stare at the wall for hours
Till the sun becomes the moon

You say it's old fashioned, the feeling I know
That's how your mother likes it, now watch my boy go

If it's real, it's your next meal
Don't even talk about it

It's real like your next meal
Don't even talk about it

Alternative lyrics:
Toodle pip
On and on and on and on and on and on
Like you even know what's going on
Into this world that I'm drawn
They'll kill you before you're born
They'll pawn your soul to be number one

You say it's old fashioned same old song
That's how your mother likes it all night long

And if she says how to feel
Don't even talk about it

We could stay at home man
Call the skag and bone man
Dig our grave out with a spoon
Then in the morning picking flowers
Spirit up for hours
Til the sun becomes the moon

You say it's old fashioned, well one thing I know
That's how your mother likes it, now watch my boy go

Yes it's real, it's like your next meal
Don't even talk about it

"Shit! We've fucked it all up man
We've fucked it all up
We've missed half the song out (very nice)"

It's real like your next meal
Don't even talk about it