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Life's for the Living (Anniversary Edition)
Passenger, Foy Vance
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Lyrics
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Translation
Bilingual
Well, grey clouds wrapped 'round the town like elastic
Cars stood like toys made of Taiwanese plastic
The boy laughed and danced 'round in the rain
While launderettes cleaned clothes, high heels rubbed toes
Puddles splashed huddles of bus stop crows
Dressed in their suits and their boots, well, they all look the same
I took myself down to the café to find all
The boys lost in books and crackling vinyl
And carved out a poem above the urinal that read
"Don't you cry for the lost, smile for the living
Get what you need and give what you're given
Life's for the living, so live it, or you're better off dead"
While the evening pulled the moon out of its packet
Stars shone like buttons on an old man's jacket
We needed a nail, but we tacked it 'til it fell off the wall
Yeah, while pigeons pecked drains, sparks flew like planes
The rain showed the rainbows in the oil stains
And we all had new iPhones, but no one had no one to call
I stumbled down to the stomach of the town
Where the widow takes memories to slowly drown
With a hand to the sky and a mist in her eye, she said
"Don't you cry for the lost, smile for the living
Get what you need and give what you're given
Yeah, life's for the living, so live it, or you're better off dead"
Or you're better off dead
Well, I'm sick of this town, this blind man's forage
They take your dreams down and they stick them in storage
You'll have 'em back, son, when you've paid off your mortgage and loans
Ah, hell with this place, I'll go it my own way
I'll stick out my thumb and I trudge down the highway
Someday, someone must be going my way home
'Til then I'll make my bed from a disused car
With a mattress of leaves and a blanket of stars
And I'll stitch the words into my heart with a needle and thread
Don't you cry for the lost, smile for the living
Get what you need and give what you're given
Yeah, life's for the living, so live it, or you're better off dead
So don't cry for the lost, smile for the living
Get what you need and give what you're given
Life's for the living, so live it, or you're better off dead
Don't you cry for the lost, smile for the living
Get what you need and give what you're given
Life's for the living, so live it, or you're better off dead