Songwriter: Gary Numan
Producer: Gary Numan
[Verse 1]
Stroll to the cafe
My God how time flies
And I close up my brain
Another friend dies
And me I'm just the same
[Verse 2]
Soaking up Broadway
Nightlife in Detroit
And I'd buy New York ladies
If these lights weren't so bright
And me I wasn't there
[Verse 3]
Stagger down Main Street
A knife in my side
And I fall to the gutter
In tears but with pride
And me I'm feeling no pain
[Verse 4]
Moving out of central
This waiter knows me well
Said he'll spill the whole story
(He) may be lyin' I can't tell
And me I'm not that kind
[Chorus]
I've been searching for my shadow in vain
How can I be still while my lifeline remains
I've been searching for my shadow in vain
How can I be still while my lifeline remains
With him
[Verse 5]
Try to steal a needle
Bring peace to my head
And I'm stumbling down the alleys
I find killers instead
And me I'm the cause of it all
[Verse 6]
Street corner women
Are taking their toll
Now they look at me, I'm dying
And I'm going home
And me, I'm lovin' it all
[Chorus]
I've been searching for my shadow in vain
How can I be still while my lifeline remains
I've been searching for my shadow in vain
How can I be still while my lifeline remains
With him
Stroll to the cafe
My God how time flies
And I close up my brain
Another friend dies
And me I'm just the same
[Verse 2]
Soaking up Broadway
Nightlife in Detroit
And I'd buy New York ladies
If these lights weren't so bright
And me I wasn't there
[Verse 3]
Stagger down Main Street
A knife in my side
And I fall to the gutter
In tears but with pride
And me I'm feeling no pain
[Verse 4]
Moving out of central
This waiter knows me well
Said he'll spill the whole story
(He) may be lyin' I can't tell
And me I'm not that kind
[Chorus]
I've been searching for my shadow in vain
How can I be still while my lifeline remains
I've been searching for my shadow in vain
How can I be still while my lifeline remains
With him
[Verse 5]
Try to steal a needle
Bring peace to my head
And I'm stumbling down the alleys
I find killers instead
And me I'm the cause of it all
[Verse 6]
Street corner women
Are taking their toll
Now they look at me, I'm dying
And I'm going home
And me, I'm lovin' it all
[Chorus]
I've been searching for my shadow in vain
How can I be still while my lifeline remains
I've been searching for my shadow in vain
How can I be still while my lifeline remains
With him
more tracks from the album
The Plan
- My Shadow in Vain (Original Version)
- Ice
- Crime of Passion
- The Life Machine (Original Version)
- Critics
- Friends (Do Your Best)
- Basic J.
- That’s Too Bad (Original Version)
- Bombers (Single Version)
- Blue Eyes
- O.D. Receiver
- Mean Street
- This Is My Life
- Something’s in the House
- That’s Too Bad (Single Version)
- Oh! Didn’t I Say
- Out of Sight
- Bombers (Original Version)
- Fadeout 1930
- This Machine (Original Version)
- Thoughts No. 2
- Check It
- The Monday Troop
- Don’t Be a Dummy (Lee Cooper Advert)
From the album
- The Plan (1984)
Tubeway Army popular songs
- Are ‘Friends’ Electric?
- Listen to the Sirens
- It Must Have Been Years
- Do You Need the Service?
- Down in the Park
- My Shadow in Vain (Original Version)
- When the Machines Rock
- Something’s in the House
- We Have a Technical
- The Life Machine
- My Love Is a Liquid
- Are You Real?
- The Dream Police
- Friends
- My Shadow in Vain
- Jo the Waiter
- Praying to the Aliens
- Only a Downstat
- You Are in My Vision
- Steel and You
- Replicas
- The Machman
- Me! I Disconnect from You
- I Nearly Married a Human