Story Of A Life
Words and Music by Harry Chapin

I can see myself it's a golden sunrise
Young boy open up your eyes
It's supposed to be your day

Now off you go horizon bound 
And you won't stop until you've found 
Your own kind of way

And the wind will whip your tousled hair
The sun, the rain, the sweet despair, 
Great tales of love and strife

And somewhere on your path to glory 
You will write your story of a life

And all the towns that you walk through
And all the people that you talk to
Sing you their songs

And there are times you change your stride
There are times you can't decide 
Still you go on

And then the young girls dance their gypsy tunes
And share the secrets of the moon
So soon you find a wife

And though she sees your dreams go poorly
Still she joins your story of a life

So you settle down and the children come
And you find a place that you come from
Your wandering is done

And all your dreams of open spaces 
You find in your children's faces 
One by one

And all the trips you know you missed 
And all the lips you never kissed
Cut through you like a knife

And now you see stretched out before thee
Just another story of a life

So what do you do now? 
When she looks at you now? 

You know those same old jokes all the jesters tell
You tell them to her now

And all the same old songs all the minstrels sang
You sing 'em to her now 

But it don't matter anyhow 
'Cause she knows by now

So every chance you take don't mean a thing
What variations can you bring
To this shop worn melody

And the years roll by like a tollin' bell
It's battered merchandise you sell
Not well she can see

And though she's heard it all a thousand times
Couched in your attempted rhymes
She'll march to your drum and fife

But the question that goes up before me
Where's my magic story of a life?

Now sometimes words can serve me well
Sometimes words can go to hell
For all that they do

And for every dream that took me high
There's been a dream that's passed me by
I know it's so true

And I can see it clear out to the end
And I'll whisper to her now again
Because she shared my life

For more than all the ghosts of glory
She's makes up the story
She's the only story
Oh my life