These words are transcribed without permission the way they appear in Morrissey's "Vauxhall & I" album. Additions to the printed lyrics are in darker text while omissions are striken out.

The more you ignore me
the closer I get
you're wasting your time
the more you ignore me
the closer I get
you're wasting your time
I will be
in the bar
with my head
on the bar
I am now
a central part
of your mind's landscape
whether you care ¹
or do not
yeah, I've made up your mind
the more you ignore me
the closer I get
you're wasting your time
the more you ignore me
the closer I get
you're wasting your time
Beware!
I bear more grudges
than lonely high court judges ²
when you sleep
I will creep
into your thoughts ³
like a bad debt
that you can't pay
take the easy way ⁴
and give in ⁴
yeah, and let me in ⁵
let me in
let me aahhh ⁶
let me in
IT'S WAR
It's war
It's war
It's war
It's war, war, war, war, war
let me in
the closer I get
you're asking for it ⁷
the closer I get
the closer I aaah

 

² On the Latin American leg of the Oye Esteban tour Morrissey usually changed this line to "stupid British judges". He also did this now and then in 2004 on the You Are The Quarry tour.

³ On the Latin American leg of the Oye Esteban tour this line was changed to something different almost every night. Examples: "when you sleep, I will creep into your bed like bad song that you can't stand, oh, make it easy and give in, somebody let me in" or "I will creep into your bed like a sick song that you can't stand, take the easy way and give in to me" or "I will creep into your bed like a bad friend" or "please open up and let me in". In 2004 Morrissey often sang "I will creep into your bed". This can be heard on live album "Live At Earl's Court". On that same tour Morrissey sometimes vented his frustration with a past court decision by following the latter line with "like a bad debt that you won't pay" or "...that you'll never pay".

⁴ On the 2000 American leg of the Oye Esteban tour Morrissey often changed this line to "take the complicated way and give in". In 2004 this became "take the difficult way and give in to me". This can be heard on Morrissey's live album "Live At Earl's Court".

⁵ On the 2000 North American and Latin American legs of the Oye Esteban tour Morrissey sometimes extended this line to "somebody let me in".

⁶ On his live album "Live At Earl's Court" Morrissey implored "Please! let me aaahhh".

⁷ In many live performances of this song on the 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2004 tours Morrissey followed this line with "you're asking for it... and it you shall get". It must be mentioned here that some people mistakenly heard "Ah, I need to shag it" instead of "and it you shall get".

Quotes

"About once every nine years I get the feeling that it's more important to have someone's body rather than their friendship. Once you have their spirit you then want their body. Well, this has never worked for me. But it was the galloping wisdom when I wrote that song."
- Morrissey, Q&A published on the True-To-You website in January 2014