They called you a dreamer
When you were seventeen
The years went by so fast
Now they call you other things
All of the answers that you're dreaming of -
They say that it's natural
But a grown man learns how to give them up

You had an apartment
And a woman once
You paid the electric and the gas
And water every month
She said that she loved you
And she wore your clothes
Now she's in dallas with a stand-up
Guy and a four-year-old

There's a world out there - I know there is -
Where they'll play my songs on their silver harps and their violins
If you remember one thing, remember this:
When the lights came up
There was nothing left I could give.

All of your cousins and your relatives -
They're competent husbands, faithful model citizens.
You saw them at christmas when they laughed and sang.
You're so very different
Why the hell can't you just feel the same?

There's a world out there - I know there is -
Where they'll play my songs
On their silver harps and their violins
If you remember one thing, remember this:
When the lights came up
There was nothing left I could give

Sometimes a vision lights up your mind.
It's all you were given, like fragile fruit on a fragile vine.

There's a world out there - I know there is -
Where they'll play my songs on their silver harps and their violins
If you remember one thing, remember this -
When the lights came up, there was nothing left I could give.