At sixteen I left Tampa, headed for New Orleans
I put my foot in the road and my thumb out, in the breeze
I’ve walked with prophets & danced with pushers, run with poets & slept with fools
I learned if you play, you got to ‘member the rules
When I sold my soul for rock & roll, back about ’79
Cost me 10 good years & 1 of my ears, & I guess about half of my mind
In all that time, I grown wise, and I learned a few new songs to sing
But the lesson remains, “Nothin’ comes for free”
(Sing it now) Nothing good ever comes easy
Nobody gives nothing away
There’s no such thing as a free lunch
‘Cause everybody’s got to pay
Clancy wasn’t much of a looker, but he was young & tall & lean
Played a mean pedal steel whenever he could see the strings
Spent most of his time in the poolroom, and most of his money on me
But when the time came to play you couldn’t drag him away, ’cause Clancy was the king of the scene
‘Cause he knew nothing good ever comes easy
Nobody gives nothing away
There’s no such thing as a free lunch
‘Cause everybody’s got to pay
Maybe I’m just a loner
Maybe I’m just alone
Maybe I’m just trine to find my own way home
I knew a few, who followed the rules, they never thought nothin’ of me
But all the words that they said & this plate in my head are helping me to believe
Beware of easy money, go ’round the grass that’s too green
And most of all, don’t be afraid to dream
‘Cause nothing good ever comes easy
Nobody gives nothing away
There’s no such thing as a free lunch
‘Cause everybody’s got to pay
Now here I am stuck in Alaska, just a roomful of loosers and me
You know the fare isn’t fair,and the collectors don’t care and the fee lord, isn’t free,
So with my stomach full of empty, and my pockets full of dreams
I put my foot in the road and my thumb out, in the breeze
Singin’ nothing good ever comes easy
Nobody gives nothing away
There’s no such thing as a free lunch
‘Cause everybody’s got to pay
Verse
|A |E |F#m |D |
|A |E |D |D |
x2
Chours
|D |E |A | |
|D |E |A | |
|D |E |A |D |
|A |E |A |E |
Bridge
|F#m |E |
|F#m |E |
|F#m |E |A | |