Last time I saw you, it must have been a year.
You called me on the phone and said "Surprise. Its me. I'm here."
I said "Come on over." In just a little while,
You walked in my front door, it was great to see you smile.

We're old lovers turned friends.
We'll never have that recipe again. We wen't our seperate ways and the world forgot to end.
We're old lovers turned friends.

You brought along your trucker friend and me, I've got a wife.
But both of us could laugh and cry bout when we shared our lives.
Then things, they got so difficult. We just weren't meant to be.
But that don't stop me loving you or stop you loving me.

We're old lovers turned friends.

We filled each other in, at least we outlined what we'd done.
But your truck was due in Denver, so you had to run.
Before you left you said I'd helped you see what you could be,
And I just want to tell you that you did the same for me.

We're old lovers turned friends.

You'll have so few true friends in your time.
You must cherish them all, I've lost one of mine.
And I think he'd be pleased if I'd write him a song,
So here is a tune for one good man that's gone.

We've all known someone whose heart is so free
That there's room inside for anyone they see,
And they love you for yourself, not what they wish you to be.
Well that's the kind of friend that my friend Bruce was to me.

And I think he'd be pleased if I'd write him a song,
So here is a tune for one good man that's gone.

There were so many nights we'd play our guitars,
Or just sit and talk til we talked down the stars,
Then I'd spread my bedroll out on his floor,
But, in this life those nights won't happen anymore.

Chorus.

He went to see a friend, driving in the snow.
Another car slid sideways, he died from the blow.
There are questions whose answers we never can know,
But I pray I'll be with him when it's my time to go.

Chorus.

You'll have so few true friends in your time.
You must cherish them all. I've lost one of mine,
And I think he'd be pleased if I'd write him a song,
So here is a tune for one good man that's gone.

I've been standing here all day long.
Begging nickels and dimes.
Now I've got thirty-four cents in my jeans.
It's almost time.
Just one more nickel and I'll have me a bottle of wine.

Say, mister, have you got a nickel?
I haven't had my coffee today.
You've only got a five dollar bill.
Well, thanks for trying anyway.
Just one more nickel and I'll have me a bottle of wine.

Say, madam, I haven't had a morsel
Since almost two days ago.
You've searched to the bottom of your purse
And there's only one token to show.
Just one more nickel and I'll have me a bottle of wine.

Standing on the corner. It's getting late.
Nobody's been passing by.
Guess the liquor store's closed anyway.
Guess I'll crawl into an alley and die.
Just one more nickel and I'd've had me a bottle of wine.

The naked, starving parents with no longer any hope.
Who would long ago have hung themselves, but couldn't buy the rope.
Who have turned upon themselves because they cannot reach the foe.
And strangle on the thousand things we will not let them know.

For we cut the corners. Save the dollars.
Never mind the babies that founder in the squalor.
And just close our hearts when we hear the crying.
Our children are dying.

Three crushed and bleeding family's, with no bath in two small rooms.
Where, in the winter, there's no heat. Eight children now. Another soon.
Five faces scrubbed, they run away, to find their lessons in the school.
To learn a life they cannot lead. To learn, by rote, the Golden Rule.

Chorus.

With eager, awkward minds at first, they try to win the teacher's heart.
And, though the teacher tries so hard, forty loves have no chance to start.
And soon the children know the rules. There's no time for love, only time for fear.
The funeral starts here.

Chorus.