I passed an old friend
He was lying in the gutter
With an ear full of rain
I remember him saying
How he was gonna prevail
If I could have stayed home
He was everything an artist should be
Poor, dirty, unclean
If I could have stayed home
Oh, if I could have stayed home
If I could have stayed home
Oh, if I could have stayed home
Oh, if I could have stayed home
Oh, if I could have stayed home
Oh, if I could have stayed home
If I could have stayed home
Ah, he went looking for the outlaw's life
Searching for the wrong side of the road
If I could have stayed home
He'd go for days without a change of clothes
Live without a shower
Smoking a lot of dope
Lord, if I could have stayed home
Lord, if I could have stayed home
If I could have stayed home
If I could have stayed home
If I could have stayed home
If I could have stayed home
If I could have stayed home
Meanwhile, the prince of the underworld
Sits by his penthouse pool
Champagne cool in the sauna
His children search for him down below
To be at the center, to be at the scene
To be seen to care to be seen
To have a drink in your hand
To know the score
To flick the blood from your lapel and yawn
Lord, if I could have stayed home
Lord, if I could have stayed home
Lord, if I could have stayed home
If I could have stayed home
If I could have stayed home
What you gonna do?
Who you gonna be?
Where you gonna go?
What you gonna do?
Who you gonna be?
Where you gonna go?
There's this friend of mine
His idea of a good time
Is to set an exotic table
In his backyard
Sit and split fifth of scotch
Let the light go down
Slow down
Savor the flavor
No one else will ever know
Out there on his own
Closed
Out there in the hot sun
As he pleases
Closed
Three hundred and sixty degrees
Closed
The king of Adelaide
The lord of you and me
And all we were and could be
You couldn't waste make that man laugh
You just have to wear it
It's not the sort of thing you put up in lights
You gotta decide
Whether that's good or bad
You gotta work out
Who you're living for
The band, they're gonna be changing
Just like the customers out front
But they're gonna be staying
And you're gonna be moving on
Someone else will get the job
Of standing in between
Someone else will
Make the rules stand up again
The people in the front table
As walked during the verse said
They'd go home and tell their kids
About this weird guy
Johnny was funny
You like to think those kids really wanted to come and see you
Ah, the kids in the band
They kept you going
All the bad gigs
The drunks
The flat beer
The cheese and ham
You could sleep rough but you could sleep
Talk yourself out, talk yourself back in
You know it, you can make sense somehow
Maybe not right now
But nobody knows
Nobody knew what you were really worth
You just had a little cash flow problem
A lack of liquidity
You were paying the price
Sowing the seeds
Dealing in alien currency
Yeah
What you gonna do?
Who you gonna be?
Where you gonna go?
Not a word
Yeah
All the others who went before you
All the others who went before you
Were they playing for you?
All the others who went before you
Were they playing for you?
Someone light years removed
What is it?
What is it, a closed circle?
A funky key