When I was a little boy
I lived in a country town
I guess I didn't know too much then
I don't know much more now
Used to be a paper boy
I lived in my bedroom
Smoked cigarettes behind the garage
Stayed away from the living room
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
When I was the age eighteen
Away from home I ran
I made it in the big N. Y. C.
I lived in a garbage can
One night I got all juiced up
Walking home from hearing some band
I tripped on a dentyne wrapper
A yellow cab ran over my hand
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Packed us up in a suitcase
Jack Kennedy's greyhound freight
I made it to Chicago
I hope it's not too late
I've got to make my fortune
Sometime before it snows
I've got to prove to the folks I'm a man
Before it gets too cold
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Chicago, you were good to me
I'll be back again someday
But I'm still broke I'm still a joke
I'm a hitching to L.A.
I'm gonna get me a woman
And live in the Hollywood Hills
Till I find my way in life
She can pay the bills
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Well, I made it to twenty-three
And I still don't pay no tax
But I bought a guitar
And I'm gonna go far
Cause I'm going where it's at
I'm gonna write me a song
To say something
It says I do, I do, I do
Cause there are no more
Folks much smarter than that
And it just ain't gonna be cool
Gonna call it "in the year 2525"
Or something like that
And if it sells then I'll do well
I'm gonna pay this woman back
And all my friends from yesterday
Come a knocking at my door
Telling me how great I am
They never did that before
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.