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Back When I Was 4
Jeffrey Lewis, Jack Lewis, Anders Griffen
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Back when I was 4 and I knew the name of every dinosaur
I knew 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
And back when I was 6, I took everything 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 is 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 very 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
And 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 eclipsed, 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
And back when I was 27, still nothing had been forgiven
Clay turns into rock and rock just sits
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
And 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
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