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

I am the son ¹
and the heir
of a shyness that is criminally vulgar ²
I am the son and heir
of nothing in particular

You shut your mouth
how can you say
I go about things the wrong way ³
I am Human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does

I am the son ⁴
and the heir
of a shyness that is criminally vulgar ²
I am the son and heir
of nothing in particular

You shut your mouth
how can you say
I go about things the wrong way ³
I am Human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does

There's a club, if you'd like to go
you could meet somebody who really loves you ⁵
so you go, and you stand on your own
and you leave on your own ⁶
and you go home, and you cry
and you want to die ⁷

When you say it's gonna happen "now" ⁸
well, when exactly do you mean?
see I've already waited too long
and all my hope is gone. ^9,10

You shut your mouth ¹¹
how can you say ¹¹
I go about things the wrong way ¹¹
I am Human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does

 

² Near the end of the 2004 You Are The Quarry tour Morrissey sometimes changed one or both these lines to "I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is crippling and vulgar". In the summer of 2006 this change became more common. By late 2006 and in 2007-2008 the change was done more commonly on the second occurrence of the line, and Morrissey sometimes also sang "of a shyness that is criminal and vulgar". In 2009 he usually stuck to the original words for the first occurrence of the line, and sang "crippling and vulgar" for the second.

³ Now and then on the 2007-2008 Greatest Hits tour Morrissey changed this line to "how can you say, I live my life the wrong way". The change became standard on the first leg of the 2009 Tour Of Refusal. In a few instances, Morrissey even sang the mixed "how can you say, I go about life the wrong way". On the second leg of the latter tour he sometimes made the change, but on most nights he would revert to the original lyrics. Then on the third leg he stuck to the original for the first occurrence of the line, and changed the second. At some point into the Swords Tour later the same year, he mostly reverted to the original lyrics for both occurrences of the line.

⁴ On the Tour Of Refusal, Morrissey would often sing "I am the son, the son and heir". He did this a few times for the first occurrence of that line, at the very beginning of the song. On the tour's third leg he would sometimes follow the line with a shout of "of what!?". On the Swords Tour later the same year he introduced the change to "I'm still the son, the son and heir", and would still sometimes follow this with a shout of "of what!?"

⁵ In live performances of this song in late 2006 Morrissey sometimes sang "you could meet somebody who actually likes you". Early in 2007 he alternated between the latter and "you could meet somebody who even likes you". Then later on the 2007 Greatest Hits tour he more or less settled on "you could meet somebody who even likes you". In early 2008 on the same tour he alternated between the latter and "you could meet somebody who can actually stand you", or similar variations. On the 2009 Tour Of Refusal the latter change became standard, with the occasional return to "...who even likes you" or to the original line. On the Swords Tour later the same year he just sang "you could meet somebody who can actually stand you".

⁶ During the third American leg of the Greatest Hits tour in 2007 Morrissey at first sang "...and you leave on your own, so what!" which later turned into "...and you leave on your own, oh what a big surprise!". In 2008 and 2009 the latter change was the standard one.

⁷ The European single edit of the song ends here. During the first two American legs of the 2007 Greatest Hits tour Morrissey sometimes broke into fake sobs instead of finishing this line, or else sang "and you cry and you want to die, what else?" or "and you cry and you want to die, of course!" or variations on that.

⁸ On the 2008 portion of the Greatest Hits tour as well as on the 2009 Tour Of Refusal and Swords Tour, Morrissey slightly extended this line to "When you say it's gonna happen now, now! well, when exactly do you mean?".

⁹ In live performances of this song in late 2006 Morrissey sometimes sang "look! all my hope is gone" or "look at me! all my hope is gone". In early 2007 he alternated between the latter and "look at this face! all my hope is gone". Then in the latter half of 2007 he settled on "look at this face! all my hope is gone". In early 2008 he alternated between the latter and the slightly more self-deprecating "look at this ugly face! all my hope is gone". On the 2009 Tour Of Refusal and Swords Tour, he came up with something completely new: "you see I've already waited too look and most of my life has gone". On the final few dates of the Tour Of Refusal Morrissey punctuated the latter line with a few "Thank God! Thank God..."

¹⁰ On the Smiths' "The Queen Is Dead" tour as well as for all Morrissey solo performances, the song ended here. Therefore, the lyrics found in Morrissey's "Live At Earls Court" album don't include the last verse.

¹¹ These three lines were deleted in the American single edit (aka Phil Brown edit) of the song.