Folks Back Home

In the forecast of my failure
I would hope to head back home
Pack up my whole van
With everything I own
Just as well trade it away
And start again from scratch
With a guitar and a notepad and the cloths upon my back
Back to the middle of the country
I would return to my hometown
Where everyone would ask, «What did I do with my travel 'round?»
And I’d have nothing much to show
Not a house or job or wife
Just a couple dozen songs to show
As antidotes to life
I can’t quite explain why I do the things I do
Makes life worth living for me, and I hope the same for you
So go on and make your living, give it a song to get you through
With the hope that I can keep on living too
Are we caught in our delusions?
Stuck in a winter’s dream?
Is the message we’ve been seeking
To drink your Ovaltine?
I refuse to return
From a gloryless traversal
Tell the folks back home
That life is one great big commercial
I can’t quite explain why I do the things I do
Makes life worth living for me, and I hope the same for you
So go on and make your living, give it a song to get you through
With the hope that I can keep on living too
Are these penniless pursuits
Prevent the progress of my prime?
Some may not call this a living
But I’m very much alive
A wise man once said, «You only live until you die»
And to cease my cause is not to see
What we can’t see otherwise
I can’t quite explain why I do the things I do
Makes life worth living for me, and I hope the same for you
So go on and make your living, give it a song to get you through
With the hope that I can keep on living too