Hold On To What?

The Beautiful South

 She'd given everything she could give 
 Twenty years of kindness made her sad 
 Kindness never made enough to live 
 So she sold the very last thing that she had 

 As she held her hand out to him 
 As he drove around the block 
 He mouthed through the window 'just hold on' 
 'I've held on many years now and I haven't found a lot' 
 Hold on, hold on to what? 

 So hold on to what? Hold on to what? 
 Holding on is harder when it's something you've not got 
 I'll need a pair of stilts if I'm to ever reach the top 
 So hold on! Hold on to what? 

 Many years of service with a smile 
 Up shit creek and down the Rhine 
 Gibraltar Rock and now the Emerald Isle 
 He'd shined every shoe that he could shine 

 And as he lay in his own blood 
 Screaming 'I've been shot' 
 He heard the Major whisper 'just hold on' 
 'I've held on all these years now, now what medal have I got?' 
 Hold on, hold on to what? 

 So hold on to what? Hold on to what? 
 Holding on is harder when it's something you've not got 
 I'll need a pair of stilts if I'm to ever reach the top 
 So hold on! Hold on to what? 

 So hold on to what? Hold on to what? 
 Holding on is harder when it's something you've not got 
 I'll need a pair of stilts if I'm to ever reach the top 
 So hold on! Hold on to what? 

 Sixty years and he's looking his worst 
 Sitting in the park where she'd died 
 Running hands through his final hair 
 These are the words that he cried 

 To achieve the American dream 
 You need a trampoline 
 To achieve the counter effect 
 Get that whisky down your neck' 
 And hold on, hold on to what? 

 Chamberlain had his paper 
 Jesus had his cross 
 They held on 
 We held on to what?