Sixteen years old, back of the music room, Hash smoke curlin' like a slow bassoon. Told myself, boy, it's just a little play, Just a schoolboy's smoke to pass the day. Montreal nights, disco ball spinnin' 'round, Psychedelic colors, feet don't touch the ground. Called it dancin', called it just a phase, Didn't know I was countin' down my days. Oh, I want the peace of a real mind, Want to leave the fever of the falling kind. I want to walk in the light, not the haze, Give me back my clear and honest days. Then grief came knockin', took my love away, And Tina answered, said she'd make the pain okay. Five long years I burned like a losing bet, Every mornin' wonderin' who I'd become yet. Took five more years just to find my feet, Solitude and silence, no more city street. I healed up slow, like a bone that breaks, Learned to love the mornin' for its own sake. Oh, I want the peace of a real mind, Want to leave the fever of the falling kind. I want to walk in the light, not the haze, Give me back my clear and honest days. Ten years clean, I thought I'd learned my song, Said "just tonight," and tonight got so long. Now I know the letters — T, and G, and K, If it's in my hand, Lord, I can't say no way. I don't like the man I turn into, Chasin' something that was never true. Ain't the high I want, it's the man I lost, Payin' every high with a rising cost. So I'm layin' down the pipe and the need to run, Turnin' back around to the risin' sun. Eight-fold path, I'm walkin' it slow, Right thought, right action — that's the way I go. I want the peace of a real mind, Want the freedom of the present kind. No more chasin', no more regret in my name, Just dignity, breathin' — I want my life back again. Not tomorrow. Not "just tonight." Today.
