Back When I Was 4 [It’s the Ones Who’ve Cracked That the Light Shines]

Back when I was 4 and I
Knew the name of every dinosaur
I learnt how to read Rom comic books
My babysitter said I was really smart
When the lights went out everything changed
The radio music made me feel strange
And I had a real bad dream
About a gorilla in the bathroom

Back when I was 6 and I
Took some things real serious
And I thought that every song
That came on the radio
Was referring to strange sexual acts
Because they thought I wouldn't
Know the facts
And being small was hard and no
One ever tells you how

And back when I was 8 I would
Sit outside on an old milk crate
And look out at the world from
The stoop across the street
The boomboxes and the hot concrete
And every Halloween they hung
A million rubber skeletons
Across ninth street

And back when I was 12 or so I
Swear to god I never felt so low
Everyone but me was making
Out and eating cookies
I had more than my brain could stand
I threw my life in a garbage can
I felt so weird i had to disappear
In crying suicide disease

At 15 getting stoned felt good and
It sent me back to childhood
And nothing ever mattered to
Me more than that

But then 16 became eclipse
My brain became apocalypse
I was lost and found and
I've never been the same

And back when I was 22 I left
The best thing that I knew
And I gave it up for fortune and for fame
I played like I didn't know how
I shocked the world i wowed the crowd
But I deserved more than what they gave

Back when I was 27 still
Nothing had been forgiven
Clay turns into rock and rock just sit's
So sitting on a crowded beach
I'd pretend I was a leech
And I'd stick to things here and
There for a little bit

And back when I was 31 I
Knew I'd become what I'd become
Nothing left to reveal
And there was nowhere else to turn
So shocked and withered dumb and bitter
And in need of a babysitter
I'd gladly let my hand fall
Off and burn burn burn
Back when I turned the big 4-0 I realized
Just how much there was to go
And I started to think
That being alone forever
Wasn't where it was at
So I took my head out of the window
And I taught myself how to love real fast
I started talking about painting
With a woman in the laundromat

And back when I was 50 and my
First wife had just left me
I felt okay and I sang my daughter
Funny little songs
And just when I thought the best was past
I fell in love for real at last
And it didn't even matter that it
Had taken me so long

And back when I was 63
The public rediscovered me
My comic books and albums had
All become rare cult-collector items
And both my parents were deceased
So they didn't see my records get re-released
And I got a dog for the first time in my life

And back when I was 74 my dog
Died and I got two more
I still felt really good about my daughter
And also about my girlfriend
And I would sing and draw a little bit
But mostly I'd just wake up early and sit
And hang out with the puppies and
Wish that I could live forever
And back when I was 87 and
My grandson had just turned eleven
My woman was dead
And my dogs were getting pretty old
My body didn't work quite like it should
But overall things were pretty good
I was getting decent royalties from the
Reissued comic books and records

And back when I was 106 my only friend
Was one goldfish
Everyone I ever knew was dead and gone
And the goldfish never had a name
And the neighbors thought I was insane
And I flushed it down the toilet when
I saw it floating upside down

And back when I was 128 I'd sit
Outside on an old milk crate
And look out at the world from
The stoop across the street
The boomboxes and the hot concrete
And every Halloween they hung
A million rubber skeletons
Across ninth street
Every Halloween they hung
A million rubber skeletons
Every Halloween they hung
A million rubber skeletons
Every Halloween they hung
A million rubber skeletons