Intro: If I went home tomorrow I would be obliged to borrow A thousand little things I do not need My folks, they know me well But surely they'd begin to tell I love them but their words I do not heed I read the books then I burned their pages Found the birds screaming in their cages Where are the young voices of all ages? I would die to hear them sing You don't have to go the lonely way That directs your heart with sorrow And leads your mind in disarray Don't pretend that you don't know 25 years and nothing to show x2 People from my town They stop to look me up and down And say how marvelous it must be They lament the lack of money And cackle about some sweet, young honey The one they're sure is chasing after me Then I see the change come into their faces They say, "I wish I knew such splendid places" But life's become a string of whiffs and traces And in my head I hear them sing You don't have to go the lonely way That directs your heart with sorrow And leads your mind in disarray Don't pretend that you don't know 25 years and nothing to show x2 \ x2 / \ x6 Don't believe it's crumbling / You don't have to go the lonely way But you go there anyway You don't have to go the lonely way, whoa