No one knows quite how these things start One or two yobs turn crowd into mob Smash the TAB suddenly all bets are off And everyone's looking for something to lob Down King Street they stop fighting each other Went on a looting trip- we all know the script They've all got previous and unspoken grievances Strip club town looked like the Gaza Strip Some reveler climbed up on the spire The flat-chat ambo's left him hanging in limbo The maul in the mall set it on fire Some kid got gla**ed by the Myer window Upturned cars by the Dockland bars Both ends of the Burnley tunnel were sealed Kids were attacking with bits of cladding From the boarded-up side of the Melbourne Wheel Melbourne Burning Melbourne Burning We were all watching Masterchef elimination Channel 10 apologized for the interruption There was talk of a curfew, there was no information The AFL boss complained about fixture disruption Gangs from the estate moved in the looter's wake There were spot fires all over the Melways From Marriott Borders to Taylor's Lakes And hoon cars taking back the freeways Melbourne Burning Melbourne Burning A goth got off the night driver one stop too far Got chased by a car for calling them bogans Family First skin heads bragged in some bar They'd covered covered Birrarung Marr with white supremacist slogans The Sunni community was blamed by their neighbours Cos some Shi'ite got helped with his self flagellation Extremists came out of the woodwork overnight Point the finger, preach escalation Tamils in Doncaster blamed it on Sinhala Serbs fought Albanians in Fountain Gate Some Kahanist rabbi in Balaclava Wanted to claim a new theocratic state Zanu blamed Zapu, Tutsi blamed Hutu Centuries enemies invoked old enmities Some nut called to Balkanise Braybook Park Orchards was torched by warring South Sudanese Where is Melbourne Burning Where is Melbourne Burning Melbourne burning in the corners of lives Melbourne burning in the hearts and the minds Melbourne burning in the deep dark parts where memory lies Melbourne burning in the name to the pain at the back of your brain Where there's someone to blame There's always someone to blame Melbourne Burning Melbourne Burning Melbourne Burning Melbourne Burning Melbourne Burning Melbourne Burning I saw it in a painting Melbourne Burning Not that one by Arthur Boyd It was Howard Arkley's 'Large House With A Fence"