I bought the paper yesterday and I saw the obituary 
And I read of how you died in pain - 
Well I just couldn't understand it 
If I could of changed that, then Lord knows I'd do it now 
But there is no going back - 
And what's done is done forever 

But you were always chained and shackled by the dirt - 
Of every small town institution and every big town flirt 

And I think of what you might have been, 
a man of such great promise 
Oh but, you seem to forget the dream - 
And the more you saw you hated 
But let's not talk of blame, for what is only natural 
Like a moth going to a flame - 
You had a dangerous passion 

But you were always chained and shackled by the dirt - 
Of every small town institution and every big town flirt 

All the things that you might have been - but who am I to say? 
Still I wonder - 
If it's in the cold earth you prefer to lay - 
If it's in the cold earth - you prefer to stay