John wears a tie, takes the same train every day
Says life's too short, but it's long
Been doing the same thing now for twenty years
And he knows that when he started, it was wrong
The choices that you make when you're twenty-one and free
They rarely stand the test of time
It's so easy to let life just happen
So hard to catch what counts cos it just flies
And he still sleeps on the left, she's turned over on the right
Midnight's crazy fumblings gone by nine
There's terror now of what the early morning brings
Cos they know that sleeping children never lie
And somewhere deep in God's sweet sleep
Lie dreams of what we were and still can be
On blue remembered hills in the sunshine
On roads that shone as far as we could see
All that he wants
Is that the world just leaves him alone
There's nothing he can do
To break the chains that hold him through and through
For the land of John is a land of lost content
Yes, he sees it shining plain
Those happy highways where he went
And cannot, cannot come again
While we drift on through, there'll be that lucky few
Who effortlessly lead their diamond lives
But for those who had the chance, for those who played and won
Growing old's another race that's just begun
All that he wants
Leave him be, leave him alone
All that he wants
Leave him be, leave him alone