Lyrics:

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