US #91 for The Associaton in 1973
Albert Hammond (writer, recording artist): One night, I was very sick, and I was all alone and missing my family... I was watching the Johnny Carson Show, and then somebody came and started talking about drunks, about gay people and about this and that. He never talked about the people, he only talked about them as... you know, he just gave them names and labels and tags, almost like if they were a suitcase or something. And I got the idea from that. I sat down that night with a high fever and wrote the tune with the idea of Names, tags, numbers & labels, and then I gave it to Mike, and he finished it off. (Albert on the telephone with Reto, Copyright ?2002 by Reto)
Names
I know a man
Who drowns his sorrows in the cheapest booze
He knows he hasn't got that much to lose
Wino
Names
I know a man
Who speaks the language of another class
He sees nothin' in the looking glass
Phony
Names, tags, numbers, labels
Other people teach you what you are
You believe them as a rule
While my name for you is beautiful
Your name for me is fool
Tags
I know a kid
Somehow the ball game doesn't interest him
Isn't this where it all begins?
Sissy
Tags
She's twenty-five
She wants a family and a house to run
Her sister always was the pretty one
Lonely
Names, tags, numbers, labels
Other people teach you what you are
You believe them as a rule
While my name for you is beautiful
Your name for me is fool
Numbers
There's no escape
'cause time will do a number on us all
Your age is scrawled across the office wall
Old man
Labels
You gave me mine
At the time I took it casually
Is that all you really thought of me?
Sucker
Names, tags, numbers, labels
Other people teach you what you are
You believe them as a rule
While my name for you is beautiful
Your name for me is fool
Hm-hm-hm
Names, tags, numbers, hm, labels
