These words are transcribed without permission the way they appear in the "Years Of Refusal" album. Additions to the printed lyrics are in darker text while omissions are striken out.

Always be careful when you abuse the one you love
the hour or the day no one can tell
but one day "goodbye" will be "farewell"
and you will never see the one you love again
you will never see the one you love again
I have been thinking
          ("what with?") ¹
my final brain-cell
how Time grips you slyly in its spell
and, before you know, goodbye will be farewell
and you will never see the one you love again
and the smiling children tell you that you smell ²
well, just look at me - a savage beast - ³
I've got nothing to sell ⁴
and when I die I want to go to hell ⁵
and that's when goodbye should be farewell
Ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta-ta
Ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta-ta
Ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta-ta
Ta-ta, ta-ta, ta-ta-ta
One day "goodbye" will be "farewell"
so grab me while we still have the time ⁶

 

² In the very first live performances of this song in 2007 Morrissey sang "And the tiny children, tell you that you smell". After some time he switched from 'tiny' to 'smiling', but now and then he would still revert to 'tiny' or something else such as 'little'. By 2009 Morrissey stuck to the lyrics as they had been recorded.

³ On the 2009 Tour Of Refusal and Swords Tour, Morrissey usually sang "look at me I'm a savage beast".

⁴ In early live performances of the song on the Greatest Hits tour, so before the song was even recorded, Morrissey alternated between "I have nothing to sell", "with nothing to sell" or "I've got nothing to sell".

⁵ In early live performances of this song in 2007, so before it was released, Morrissey at first sang "When I die, I'm going straight to hell" and at some point changed this to "when I die I want to go to hell". Now and then he would later sing "when I die let me go to hell".

⁶ In early live performances of this song on the Greatest Hits tour, so before it was released, Morrissey at first sang "So love me while you still have the time", then "So take me while you still have the time" and by the end of 2007 changed this to "So grab me while you still have the time". He rarely sang "...while we still have the time" until the middle of 2008. Now and then on the 2009 Swords Tour, he came up with a new variation in which he would just repeat "while... while... while..." By the end of that tour this became "so grab me while... just grab me!"