Cry If You Want

Once it was just innocence Brash ideas and insolence But you will never get away With the things you say today But you can try if you want Don't you get embarrassed when you read the precious things you said Many many years ago when life appeared rosy red No one ever shared your bed Nothing ever filled your head Except yourself and little Ted And scary dreams that you were dead. Don't you want to hide your face When going through your teenage books And read the kind of crap you wrote About "ban the bomb" and city crooks Think about how long it took To get over that sudden "Yuk" When in the mirror you would look Well now my son you're well in stook Cry if you want, cry if you want Didn't you writhe in anger when you saw the man in his big car Didn't you drive a banger and a gallon didn't get you far Should have been a famous star But that ain't what you really are You could shout your last hurrah While they are propping up the bar Maybe things were better then Before you led a promised life Rash commitments and heavy raps and left wing spiel all compromised You fall in love with other's wives Drive 'em nuts with empty lies Angry 'cause you lost the prize Forgot the color of their eyes. Cry if you want, cry if you want Let your tears flow Let your past go Don't you get embarrassed when you think about the way you were Yesterday the day before when you were young with much to learn Aren't you glad it's your last term No more acting lowly worm You can make the suckers squirm When you tell them how much you earn Don't you feel ashamed at all the bitterness you keep inside Does your ego save your face "I had a go - I really tried" Now you know your leaders lied Does it stop you acting snide Or are you still a boy that cried Tears now surely long since dried. Cry if you want, cry if you want --- Cry If You Want - The Who