People Get Old

Someone said, "Youth is wasted on the young" I spilled every last drop of time that summer in the sun My daddy had a Timex watch Cigarette in his hand and a mouthful of scotch Spinnin' me around like a tilt-a-whirl on his arm Houses need paint, winters bring snow Kids, come on in before your supper gets cold Collection plates and daddy's billfold And that's how it goes You live long enough, people get old I sat up right beside him in the cabin of that truck Goin' thirty miles-an-hour down a side road talkin' 'bout the fish we caught And I'm older now than he was then If I could go back in time, I would in a second To his beat-up blue jeans and a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off Houses need paint, winters bring snow Kids growin' up and seekin' out the window Hittin' every small-town dirt road And that's how it goes You live long enough and people get old Yeah, people get old Daddy keeps busy in the aftenoons playin' cards by himself And he shouldn't be shovelin' that first snow, but you know he won't take the help Full of pride and love, he don't say too much but hell, he never did And you still think he's forty-five and he still thinks that you're a kid One day you'll find yourself sayin' the things that he said You'll be walkin' down the hallway, turnin' off every light switch When you twirl your kids in your arms Before you know it, it won't take too long They'll be runnin' off makin' a life just like you did Houses need paint, winters bring snow Nothin' says "love" like a band of gold Babies grow up and houses get sold And that's how it goes Time is a thief, pain is a gift The past is the past, it is what it is Every line on your face tells a story somebody knows That's just how it goes You live long enough and the people you love get old