The Real Life - John Mellencamp, Joanne Woodward

Suzanne divorced her husband

She got the keys to the car and the home

But her friends were really his friends

No one stops by to see her much anymore

So one night she goes back down to the old haunts

That once upon a time were her own

She didn’t know nobody out there no more

And the whole experience just made her feel so old

She says

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I want to live the real life

I want ot live my life close to the bone

Just because I’m middle-aged that don’t mean

I want to sit around my house and watch T.V.

I want the real life

I want to live the real life

Jackson Jackson was a good kid

He had four years of college and a bachelor’s degree

Started workin' when he was 21

Got fed up and quit

When he was 43

He said, «My whole life

I’ve done what I’m supposed to do Now I’d like to maybe do something for myself

And just as soon as I figure out what that is You can bet your life I’m gonna give it hell»

He says

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I guess it don’t matter how old you are

Or how old one lives to be

I guess it boils down to what we did with our lives

And how we deal with our own destinies

But something happens

When you reach a certain age

Particularly to those ones that are young at heart

It’s a lonely proposition when you realize

That’s there’s less days in front of the horse

Than riding in the back of this cart

I say

Chorus