Nineteen-hundred-sixty-four
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We were kids, didn't know about the war
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Still wasting time in school
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There were Joe and Sue, Jack and Jim
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A couple more in the second string
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All the rest just weren't cool
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Ah, we'd hang around in our little gang
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Having dreams, making plans
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For the outside world
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But when I see us now
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I really find it strange
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How little, how much we've changed
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In the years gone by
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I guess it's meant to be that way
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Jimmy always played the clown
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It was his way of hanging on to the crowd
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But when he was down he'd come around
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To get his hands on every agent known to man
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No matter how from aspirin to zylatoll
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Crazy Jimmy tried them all
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And he was dying but now he's fine
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For he gets up at five o'clock
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Runs ten miles in the L.A. smog
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Still crazy
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I've heard him say that anything worth really doing
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Should be done until you're falling down
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And though he left the road to ruin
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He's found a new way to the ground
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He still ain't found his balance
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Joe was never hard to please
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When they said "Go" he went overseas into battle
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He stuck it out to the bitter end
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Lived like a dog, fought like a man in the saddle
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And when he came home from Vietnam
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They said "The war did him no harm"
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They're lying
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He's known to cry and scream at times, in his dreams
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Holding off the nightmares that he sees
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Time may heal the nightly screaming
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But the scars will still remain
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He fights so hard to kill his demon
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At times the pain drives him insane
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Trying to regain his balance
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Jack and Susie lost no tome
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They went to college and carried signs in the rally
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And finally with cap and gown
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They tied the knot and settled down in the valley
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Oh but now they've got two little boys
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The place is filled with broken toys and dreams
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For it seems that Jack, in spite of his degree
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Moonlights at night, in the factory
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Susie's got the house and the children
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But no time for her to grow
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And Jack is making their first million
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And until they can't let go
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I guess they'll owe the balance
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We don't talk much anymore
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Seems our little gang is bored with callin'
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Anyway we're too busy with gettin' on
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And looking out for number one
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Is all we got in common
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With business, home, family
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Are we ever all that we could be?
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Trading in our fantasy
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We live this part time life
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Of false security
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Seems to me that doers never dream enough
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And dreamers often do nothing at all
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And to find that middle ground is rough
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But I'll be damned if I let go
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Stop looking for the balance
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-----------------
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The Balance
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| Steppenwolf |
