It Once Was My Life - Van Morrison

There were people on the sidewalks

Strolling down the avenues

They were sitting outside in cafes

We were looking for the muse

Well I was locked in by the system

Where no freedom is the rule

Now I spend all my time just trying

To make it understood

It once was my life, that’s what everybody said

All the things I used to do and the people that were friends

I’ve got to make it mean something at the end of the day

It once was my life, they can’t take that away

Trials and tribulations and stupidity still rules

Sometimes it looks like I’m on a ship of fools

It once was my life, when my message was just the street

Then it became something else, and now it’s incomplete

I’m just trying to get back to when

Can somebody please shed some light

It used to be my life, it used to be uptight

Trials and tribulations and stupidity still rules

Some days it just feels like I’m on a ship of fools

I’m back here on the boards, I can hear the engines roar

Everybody’s got to pay, some people got to pay more

Well you can tell the people anything

Spoon feed them anything you like

It used to be so simple, it used to be my life

Now everything is so complicated, just to speak or use the phone

Some people try to use me, just 'cause they don’t have their own

Don’t know who’s round the corner, trying to sell me some more tripe

It used to be my life, it used to be my life…