The Real Life Songtext

von John Mellencamp

Suzanne divorced her husband
She got the keys and the car and the home
But her friends were really his friends
No one stops by to see her much any more
So one night, she goes back down to
The old haunts
That once upon a time were her own
She didn't know nobody out there no more
And the whole experience just made her
Feel so old
She says

I want to live the real life
I want to live my life close to the bone
Just because I'm middle-aged that
Don't mean
I want to sit around my house and watch TV
I want the real life
I want to live the real life

Jackson Jackson was a good kid
He had four years of college
And a bachelor's degree
Started workin' when he was 21
Got fed up and quit
When he was 43
He said, "My whole life
I've done what I'm supposed to do
Now I'd like to maybe do something
For myself
And just as soon as I figure out what
That is
You can bet your life
I'm gonna give it hell"
He says

I want to live the real life
I want to life my life close to the bone
Just because I'm middle-aged that
Don't mean
I want to sit around my house and watch TV
I want the real life
I want to live the real life

I guess, it don't matter how old you are
Or how old one lives to be
I guess it boils down to what we did
With our lives
And how we deal with our own destinies
But something happens
When you reach a certain age
Particularly to those ones, that are
Young at heart
It's a lonely proposition when you realize
That there's less days in front of the horse
[this is terrible English indeed]
Than riding in the back of this cart
I say

I want to live the real life
I want to life my life close to the bone
Just because I'm middle-aged that
Don't mean
I want to sit around my house and watch TV
I want the real life
I want to live the real life.