Intro: C C/B Am F G
Verso 1:
C
I had a friend who had to vent
C/B
On a time that left him quite verklempt
Am
I asked exactly what he meant
F G
And helplessly he said:
C
"I'm just a boy with a broken dream
C/B
And a chemical dependency
Am
That's eating up what's left of me
F G
While they say plan ahead"
Am C/B
He asked his father "what's the point?
F G
The future ain't too bright."
Am C/B
Then dad replied for the first time:
F G
"I think you might be right"
C G
Cause your generation's on medication
C G
Blinded by inebriation
C G
Wallowing in procrastination
C G
Frankly bored of education
C G
Live in fear of foreign nations
C G
Nuclear annihilation
C G
Searching for an explanation
C G F G
While I have the realization that it's all my fault
C
And such is life
Interlude: (C) G C
Verso 2:
C
I held a girl for a bit of a while
C/B
In an age where a smile was out of style
Am
She made denial seem worth while
F G
I never quite knew how
C
She had a voice and a wish for fame
C/B
And claimed the world would know here name
Am
I told her I once felt the same
F G
But look where I am now
Am C/B
So darling, keep your head on straight
F G
The vision won't pan out
Am C/B
She'd say "I always get my way and
F G
You can just get out!"
C G
So she worked real hard and she danced away
C G
But she put a play for her mirror all day
C G
And the years went by, she turned 28
C G
Over the hill and a little too late
C G
With deteriorating mental health
C G
The president's dead cause she proved herself
C G
And though you never heard her sing
C G
She's on magazines and TV screens
C G
While she sits and smiles in a prison cell
C G
Where she hung herself with a studded belt
F G
She went out like a star
C
And such is life
Interlude: (C) G C
Verso 3:
C
I knew a fella so tried and true
C/B
He's a lot like me and a bit like you
Am
Who struggled through what bound him to
F G
A social web of lies
C
He saw the things he chose to see
C/B
Inside a world of fantasy
Am
And never fit too comfortably
F G
In anybody's eyes
Am C/B
But, when the system pulled his card
F G
And said, "You turned out right"
Am C/B
We fed you fear for 18 years
F G
Preparing for a fight
C G C G
So, son get off that unicorn and come try on this uniform
C G
Cause these are the colors that never run:
C G
Red, white, blue, and a silver gun
C G C G
Though he never laid a finger on anyone, he just sang his songs and had his fun
C G
On the battlefield he met his end
C G
When he took a bullet to save his friend
C G
His mom got word the other day
C G
In a letter that read, "Thanks anyway"
F G C
But that's how freedom rings. And such is life
Interlude: (C) G C
C
My thought on everybody else
C/B
Would lead me back to view myself
Am
And take the sorrow that I felt
F G
To build a case-in-point
C
My home sweet home of lemon drops
C/B
Where dinner's served on counter tops
Am
The healthy family unit stops
F G
When parents disappoint
Am C/B F G
The stranger's hand that feeds you is a jackal in disguise
Am C/B F G
That sends us poison arrows from apocalyptic skies
C G
There's a fallout child with an empty face
C G
Who'll finish last in the human race
C G
In a vegetative state at his parents' place
C G
An ashamed disgraced who's afraid to age
C G
His rage enslaves a caged white dove
C G
Who's raised on drugs and selfish love
C G C G
The product of a time defined by me, myself, and I combined
C G
With a slow decline on a string of pills
C G
While the world keeps turning, we're standing still
F G
And growing up all wrong
F G
The sandbox lines are drawn
F G
The backward beat goes on
C
And such is life
Outro
(C) G C