Stay Loose

I was choking on a cornflake

You said "Have some toast instead"

I was sleeping maybe three hours

You said "You should get to bed"

I was waiting at the church door

For the minister to show

I was looking at the new year

You said "Walk before you crawl"

I was feeling like a loser

You said "Hey, you've still got me"

I was feeling pretty lonely

You said "You wanted to be free"

I was looking for a good time

You said "Let the good times start"

With a quiver of your eyelid

You took on someone else's part

Maybe I'm a little greedy

You said "Think before you speak"

Sometimes I'm a little seedy

You said "Everyone is weak"

Now I feel a little better

Is there something I can do?

But I never heard the answer

I never had a clue

But what about me

I don't really see

How things will improve

If all you want is to stay loose

There's a little echo calling

Like a miner trapped inside

If I tell her of this moment

She will in me doubts confide

And she's on me like a blanket

Like a stalk of wilting grass

I'm not sure about her motives

I'm not sure about her past

But my faith is like a bullet

My belief is like a bolt

The only thing that lets me sleep at night

A little carriage of the soul

If it starts a little bleaker

Then the year may yet be gold

Happiness is not for keeping

Happiness is not my goal

But what about me

I don't really see

How things will improve

If all you want is to stay loose

But what about them

You play mother hen

To a gaggle of gangling youth

All you want is to stay loose

I was living through the seconds

My composure was a mess

I was miles from tenderness

It was dark outside, the day it was lying in pieces

Everything is flat and dreary

I couldn't care what's in the news

Television is the blues

Television is hysterical laughter of people

And I know it could be me

I'm always asking for more

I keep running around in circles

I keep looking for a doorway

I'm going to need two lives

To follow the paths I've been taking