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Gang of Four - Damaged Goods

The change will do you good
I always knew it would
Sometimes I'm thinking that I love you
But I know it's only lust
Your kiss so sweet
Your sweat so sour

Your kiss so sweet
Your sweat so sour
Sometimes I'm thinking that I love you
But I know it's only lust
The sins of the flesh
Are simply sins of lust
Sweat's running down your back
Sweat's running down your neck
Heated couplings in the sun
(or is that untrue? )
Colder couplings in the night
(never saw your body)
Your kiss so sweet
Your sweat so sour
Sometimes I'm thinking that I love you
But I know it's only lust
The change will do you good
I always knew it would
You know the change will do you good
You know the change will do you good

Damaged goods
Send them back
I can't work
I can't achieve
Send me back
Open the till
Give me the change
You said would do me good
Refund the cost
You said you're cheap but you're too much
Your kiss so sweet
Your sweat so sour
Sometimes I'm thinking that I love you
But I know it's only lust
The change will do you good
I always knew it would
You know the change will do you good
You know the change will do you good

I'm kissing you goodbye
(goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye)
I'm kissing you goodbye
(goodbye, goodbye, goodbye)
I'm kissing you goodbye
(goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye)
I'm kissing you goodbye
(goodbye, goodbye, goodbye)
I'm kissing you goodbye
(goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye)
I'm kissing you goodbye
(goodbye, goodbye, goodbye)
(goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye)
(goodbye, goodbye, goodbye)
(goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye)
Bye...
(goodbye, goodbye, goodbye)

“Damaged Goods” was the 1978 debut single from Leeds-based post-punk innovators Gang Of Four. The song offers a Marxist critique of everyday life— characterizing the “Damaged Goods” of a breakup in the terms of a financial transaction. This song featured the original Gang—Jon King on lead vocals, Andy Gill on guitar and vocals, Hugo Burnham on drums, and Dave Allen on bass. Jon King told Clash Magazine: “Saturday afternoons, we wandered, walleyed, through the sun-bright aisles of Morrison’s supermarket in Leeds, looking for a 2-4-1 bargains and generic baked beans. The hopeless in-store slogan at the point of sale was: “The change will do you good” meaning “change” as in money and “change” as in switch store. Someone got paid for this rubbish!. I found this good starter for words about a doomed relationship where legover had become, maybe, too much of a good thing. Or at any rate, a thing. Andy (Gill, guitarist) punctuates the main lyric with a call and response thing and sings the iconic mid section “Damaged goods, send them back” words. The music’s cute: alternate the guitar and bass duh duh dink! Duh duh dink! & build the song around this R&B clatter among dynamic drop outs where everyone got to feature. We didn’t want a pop structure. We’d had it with dominant, subdominant, tonic chord progressions. So we had none, instead.“