These words are transcribed without permission the way they appear in the "The World Won't Listen" and "Louder Than Bombs" albums. Additions to the printed lyrics are in darker text while omissions are striken out.

Shyness is nice, but and
Shyness can stop you
From doing all the things in life
That you'd like to ¹
(repeat above)
So, if there's something you'd
like to try
If there's something you'd
like to try
ASK ME - I WON'T SAY "NO" - HOW COULD I?
Coyness is nice, but and
Coyness can stop you
from saying all the things in ²
life that you want to   life you'd like to
So, if there's something that you'd
like to try
If there's something that you'd
like to try
ASK ME - I WON'T SAY "NO" - HOW COULD I?
Spending warm, Summer days indoors
Writing frightening verse
To a buck-toothed girl in Luxembourg
ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME
ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME
Because if it's not Love
Then it's the Bomb
the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb
That will bring us together
Nature is a language - can't you read?
Nature is a language - can't you read? ³
[So] ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME
ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME
Because if it's not Love
Then it's the Bomb
the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb
That will bring us together
If it's not Love
Then it's the Bomb
Then it's the Bomb ⁴
That will bring us together
So ⁵
ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME
ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME

¹ On the first leg of the 2009 Tour Of Refusal Morrissey alternated between "from doing all the things in life that you like to" and "from doing all the things in life that you want to". On the second leg he settled mostly on the latter while on the third leg as well as on the Swords Tour later the same year, he preferred the former.

² On the "The Queen Is Dead" tour, as heard on "Rank", Morrissey would often sing "from doing all the things in life that you want to". This is what he sang in early demos of the song. When he started doing the song again in the summer of 2008 he changed it to "from being all the things in life you want to". He stuck to this on the 2009 Tour Of Refusal, but sometimes ended the line with "...you must be", "...you like to" or "...you have to". On the 2009 Swords Tour he constantly sang "from being all the things in life you want to".

³ On the "The Queen Is Dead" tour, as heard on live album "Rank", Morrissey would often sing this line as "Nature is a language - can anybody read?" When he started doing the song again in 2008 and early 2009 he did that change on and off. On the second leg of the 2009 Tour Of Refusal the change was standard, but on the third leg it was done on and off again. On any leg of the Tour Of Refusal, Morrissey would actually sometimes sing "nature is a language, can't you read, NO!. On the Swords Tour later in 2009 the change was done on and off again.

⁴ When he resurrected the song in the summer of 2008 Morrissey would often sing "it's the bomb, the nuclear bomb that will bring us together". He repeated this a few times at the very beginning of the 2009 Tour Of Refusal, but then improvised with that line, and after few shows it settled on "if it's not love, then it's military might, it's macho military might that will bring us together". This change became standard throughout the remainder of that tour and the Swords Tour which followed.

⁵ On the 2009 Tour Of Refusal Morrissey started improvising changes here. He would sing "take your pick!" or "you choose!", or variations on "so by the way, ask me, ask me, ask me", "so before then, ask me, ask me, ask me", "when you're ready, ask me, ask me, ask me" or "in the meantime, ask me, ask me, ask me". By the time the tour reached the European mainland (third leg), Morrissey alternated between the latter change, "meanwhile, ask me, ask me, ask me", or the original form. Later that year on the Swords tour he mostly stuck to the original form.