Am G Am G
Am G Am G

[Verse 1]
Am                     G
Like a spent gladiator
Am                             G
Crawling in the Colosseum dust
Am                                   G
Who can count on his remaining limbs
Am
All the people he can trust
Am                                  G
Like the one who stands behind him
Am               G
Cheering him on
Am                              G
Ecstatic when he stands defiant
Am
Wild with abandon when he's gone

[Chorus]
            F
Just stay alive
Am                     G
Keep your eyes on the pay line

Am Am

[Verse 2]
Am                            G
Like a village on the steppe
Am                          G
About to get collectivized
Am                                                G
When the men emerge with rifles from the haystack
Am
Everybody looks surprised
Am                                    G
Like the mice in the forgotten grain
Am                       G
Way up on the top shelf
Am                                                 G
Like someone who's found a small town to escape to
Am
Keeps one eye on his abandoned, former self

[Chorus 2]
             F
Stay in the game
Am                            G
Just try to play through the pain
          F                                  Am              G
Like a fighter who's been told it's finally time for him to quit
     F
Show up in shining colours
          Am                 G
And then stand there and get hit

F F Am Am

[Verse 3]
Am                                    G
Like the clock that ticks in Dresden
Am                                    G
When the whole town's been destroyed
Am                                 G
Like the nagging flash of insight
Am
You're always desperate to avoid
Am                               G
Like the bloody-knuckled gunman
Am                             G
Still stationed at the breach
Am                                     G
Like that board game with the sliders
Am
And the children on the beach

[Chorus]
      F
Stay alive
Am                        G
Maybe spit blood at the camera
           Am
Just stay alive
Am             G
Stay forever alive