Don't waste the days when I'm dead and I'm gone Wind up the clocks, ring around, carry on Don't gather flowers, dry your eyes, call your friends For all I sang was a start, not an end. Catch your breath, feel the life in your bones Enjoy what's to come, not the things that we've done. Save all your prayers, take the pain and the hurt Add your chorus to my verse By and by, by and by Forget that glorious land above the sky Don't you cry, don't you cry By and by Don't waste the days when I'm dead and I'm gone Wind up the clocks, ring around, carry on Don't gather flowers, dry your eyes, call your friends For all I sang was a start, not an end. By and by, by and by Forget that glorious land above the sky Don't you cry, don't you cry By and by I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night Alive as you and me Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead" "I never died," said he.