If Only He Applied Himself

Oh if I hadn't been so stubborn
 I could have been a great many things
 I'd have a larger estate
 And a shorter list of sins
 I should have been a good boy
 Like me ma begged me to be
 Spared her coming back home
 To find mud up to me knees
 But I never paid attention
 I had me head way over me heels
 Lost through songs and stories
 Scattered dreams to make real
 "If only he applied himself"
 It's what teachers used to say
 But their aim to be wealthy
 Well, it never called on me
 There's no quid, no glory
 Nor a pat on your back
 It's a short lived story
 Told by one of many names
 "He never fully achieved
 His potentiality"
 But I had nothing else to do
 Than just live happily
 If I listened to them all
 I should be already dead
 Or maybe I'd be a businessman
 That's an even much worse end
 But It happened I had a talent
 Not for singing, not for dance
 But for wasting money and time
 Trying to be the man I am
 I never wanted to take on
 The whole world with a song
 But just leave me tiny mark
 'Thought soon wiped out and gone
 I tried to be a curious man
 But I did it for meself
 For to see the world and squander
 Was an all-cure for me health
 There's no quid, no glory
 Nor a pat on your back
 It's a short lived story
 Told by one of many names
 "He never fully achieved
 His potentiality"
 But I had nothing else to do
 Than just live happily
 The words I choose so carefully
 On a dusty shelf lie will
 Among some of the greatest
 That I'm not worth being with
 More likely they'd be handy
 To steady a table leg
 But being so sophomoric
 I've had me mighty craic
 For those who come right after me
 I've some tired old lines to give:
 Don't be afraid to be
 Whoever you are meant to be
 There'll always be a road somewhere
 Leading us out of despair
 But don't take life too seriously
 An drink every drop of it