We Grew up a Little Bit - Harry Chapin

We got married early

And just a little bit late

Baby came too early

But some things just can’t wait

We were just beginning

But it was very clear

We grew up a little bit that year

I caught on as a meter man

You were caught at home

When I started night school

You ended up alone

But you had another baby

While I had my career

And we grew up a little bit

We grew up a little bit

We grew up a little bit that year

They put me in a office job

A young man on the move

We bought a house in Shaker Heights

You supervised the move

We were cashing checks, you were changing children

While I played engineer

And we were growing ever faster

Every year

I got bored of kilowatts

You were tired of kids

I started staying out at night

And soon that’s what you did

At parties we’d go seperately

You’d wiggle and I’d leer

And we were growing faster

We were growing ever faster

We were growing ever faster every year

You learned to live in silence

I learned to live in lies

And we both igored the empty spaces

Growing in our eyes

Your breath became a gin and tonic

Mine became a beer

And we grew up a little more last year

Today at work they passed me by

And promoted John instead

I came home to find you’d wrecked the car

I guess I lost my head

Well, I can’t believe I hit you

But the rage came on so strong

Ah, where did we go wrong?

As you sit there crying

I wonder who you are

The partner-stranger-friend and foe

Who’s come with me this far

We stand here in the ashes

And I guess it is quite clear

We did not really grow too much

Each year

So you say we’re going nowhere

Well I know that’s where we’ve been

Still I can’t help wondering

Can we begin again?

I feel so full of questions

Curiosity and fear

But could we grow a little bit

Could we grow a little bit

Can we grow a little bit this year?