Billy said when he was seventeen,
There ain't nothin left here for me now,
A small town boy with American dreams
He was California bound,
He said "I'm gonna make it,
Damned if I don't try,
You know I just won't take it,
This life won't pass me by",

Billy grew into a blue-eyed handsome man,
The road it left him hard and lean,
He lost his heart to a southern girl,
She made him feel just like James Dean,
And her name was Rita,
She said her love was deep,
Billy bought her promises,
She could never keep

(Chorus)
Strangers in paradise,
Long and lonely nights,
Never had a dream come true,
Strangers in paradise,
Long and lonely nights,
Searched their whole lives through

Billy rode those highway lines,
Till they one day brought him back home,
He took a job,
And he took a wife,
And he worked real hard for things of his own,

Said "I'm gonna make it,
Damned if I don't try,
You know I just won't take it,
This life won't pass me by",

(Chorus)