| Once you were the talk of the town
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| Oh, once you were the life of the party, you’re a buzzkill now
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| And it’s so strange to see you caving in
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| Kicking up dust on a long road, honey, always tryin' to begin
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| But you found forty bucks in a hotel bible
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| In a run-down room with nothing on TV
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| And you acted out your lines there in the mirror
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| You could act out all that nothin' perfectly
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| So you conjured up a borrowed voice and new suit
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| And you stole a light for all that shadowplay
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| And you won the crowd in Brooklyn with your cheap tricks
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| Like you won the crowd with sweet talk in LA
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| Well, you don’t see the air you breathe
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| The weather’s warm and welcoming every day and night
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| And you don’t see the web they weave is one of many
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| Hanging off the Hollywood sign
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| But you ain’t gonna shake my bones with all that caterwaul
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| And you ain’t gonna shake my bones with all that pretty talk
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| On paper, it’s an empty ruse
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| On paper, it’s an empty tomb
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| A paperboy’s nothing new, but you don’t know it all
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| You don’t know it all
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| Once you were the talk of the town
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| Oh, once you were the showboat honey, but your ship sailed out
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| And it hurt bad when you heard the stranger say
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| That your bird in the hand was a flash in the pan when you let it fly away
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| You were supposed to be in the park on a billboard, singin'
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| And every passerby wonders where you’re gone
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| You been stowed up in your attic, always thinkin'
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| 'Bout the next big plan for all your little songs
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| And you don’t keep bad company
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| How do you not say a single thing when you talk that long?
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| When you don’t see the air you breathe
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| What’s there to write about when nothing’s going wrong?
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| But you ain’t gonna shake my bones with all that caterwaul
|
| And you ain’t gonna shake my bones with all that pretty talk
|
| On paper, it’s an empty ruse
|
| On paper, it’s an empty tomb
|
| A paperboy’s nothing new, but you don’t know it all
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| You don’t know it all
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| You don’t know it all
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| You never knew it all |