Back When I Was 4

Back when I was 4 and I knew the name of every dinosaur
 I knew how to read ROM comic books, my babysitter said I was really smart
 When the lights went out, everything changed
 The radio music made me feel strange
 And I had a real bad dream about a gorilla in the bathroom
 And back when I was 6, I took everything real serious
 And I thought that every song that came on the radio was referring to strange sexual acts
 Because they thought I wouldn't know the facts
 And being small is hard, and no one ever tells you how
 And back when I was 8, I would sit outside on an old milk crate
 And look out at the world from the stoop across the street
 The boomboxes and the hot concrete
 And very Halloween, they hung a million rubber skeletons across ninth street
 And back when I was 12 or so, I swear to God, I never felt so low
 Everyone but me was making out and eating cookies
 I had more than my brain could stand, I threw my life in a garbage can
 I felt so weird, I had to disappear in crying suicide disease
 And at 15, getting stoned felt good, and it sent me back to childhood
 And nothing ever mattered to me more than that
 But then 16 became eclipsed, my brain became apocalypse
 I was lost and found, and I've never been the same
 And back when I was 22, I left the best thing that I knew
 And I gave it up for fortune and for fame
 I played like I didn't know how
 I shocked the world, I wowed the crowd
 But I deserved more than what they gave
 And back when I was 27, still nothing had been forgiven
 Clay turns into rock and rock just sits
 So sitting on a crowded beach, I'd pretend I was a leech
 And I'd stick to things here and there for a little bit
 And back when I was 31, I knew I'd become what I'd become
 Nothing left to reveal, and there was nowhere else to turn
 So shocked and withered, dumb, and bitter, and in need of a babysitter
 I'd gladly let my hand fall off and burn, burn, burn
 And back when I turned the big 4-0, I realized just how much there was to go
 And I started to think that being alone forever wasn't where it was at
 So I took my head out of the window, and I taught myself how to love real fast
 I started talking about painting with a woman in the laundromat
 And back when I was 50, and my first wife had just left me
 I felt okay and I sang my daughter funny little songs
 And just when I thought the best was past, I fell in love for real, at last
 And it didn't even matter that it had taken me so long
 And back when I was 63, the public rediscovered me
 My comic books and albums had all become rare cult-collector items
 And both my parents were deceased, so they didn't see my records get re-released
 And I got a dog for the first time in my life
 And back when I was 74, my dog died and I got two more
 I still felt really good about my daughter, and also about my girlfriend
 And I would sing and draw a little bit, but mostly I'd just wake up early and sit
 And hang out with the puppies, and wish that I could live forever
 And back when I was 87, and my grandson had just turned eleven
 My woman was dead, and my dogs were getting pretty old
 My body didn't work quite like it should, but overall, things were pretty good
 I was getting decent royalties from the reissued comic books and records
 And back when I was 106, my only friend was one goldfish
 Everyone I ever knew was dead and gone
 And the goldfish never had a name, and the neighbors thought I was insane
 And I flushed it down the toilet when I saw it floating upside down
 And back when I was 128, I'd sit outside on an old milk crate
 And look out at the world from the stoop across the street
 The boomboxes and the hot concrete
 And every Halloween, they hung a million rubber skeletons across ninth street
 Every Halloween, they hung a million rubber skeletons
 Every Halloween, they hung a million rubber skeletons
 Every Halloween, they hung a million rubber skeletons