Yellow Bike

Ten years old in '74 in a run down shack with a bathroom on the porch
 Free school lunch and hand-me-downs and a
 two-hour ride on the school bus into town
 But a view of the ocean from my window
 I loved to watch the tide just come and go, there alone
 Bought a fishing pole at the five-and-dime...
 Never caught a fish, but I loved to throw that line
 Sittin' on the pier in the salty air,
 spinning daydreams to pass the time
 And I rode my yellow bike on that beach road
 Never thought about where I might go... I just rode
 Riding, flying, on that road
 Laughing, smiling, all alone
 Living poor, but living free
 Happy on that yellow bike on that road beside the sea
 Hibernating in my room with my forty-fives and AM radio
 Leaving all the world behind,
 never wanting more than just that time alone
 The nighttime brought its dark and bitter haze
 But oh, how I loved those daydream days by the sea
 I wonder why I just can't understand why I'm sad that I was happy then
 Do I have such a better life today that
 I'll never have that bliss of yesterday?
 Twenty-six cats, and two hamsters,
 the air thick with ten thousand fleas
 Waiting for that monthly check to buy one week's worth of groceries
 But I don't think that occurred to me life
 wasn't all that it should be... we just lived
 Riding, flying, on that road
 Laughing, smiling, all alone
 Living poor, but living free
 Happy on that yellow bike on that road beside the sea
 Beside the sea