Post office clerks put up signs saying position closed 
And secretaries turn off typewriters and put on their coats 
Janitors padlock the gates 
For security guards to patrol 
And bachelors phone up their friends for a drink 
While the married ones turn on a chat show 

And they'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow 

Gentlemen time please, you know we can't serve anymore 
Now the traffic lights change to stop, when there's nothing to go 
And by five o'clock everything's dead 
And every third car is a cab 
And ignorant people sleep in their beds 
Like the doped white mice in the college lab 

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all 
The needle returns to the start of the song 
And we all sing along like before 

And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow 

Telephone exchanges click while there's nobody there 
The Martians could land in the carpark and no one would care 
Close-circuit cameras in department stores shoot the same video every day 
And the stars of these films neither die nor get killed 
Just survive constant action replay 

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all 
The needle returns to the start of the song 
And we all sing along like before 

And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow 

Bill hoardings advertise products that nobody needs 
While angry from Manchester writes to complain about 
All the repeats on T.V. 
And computer terminals report some gains 
On the values of copper and tin 
While American businessmen snap up Van Goghs 
For the price of a hospital wing 

Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all 
The needle returns to the start of the song 
And we all sing along like before 
Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all 
They'll burn down the synagogues at six o'clock 
And we'll all go along like before 

And we'll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow