Know Your Love - David Roth

was born in Illinois, just a tiny baby

Little tiny baby boy way back in Illinois

Learned to talk when I was one, learned to walk soon after

Taking steps and making noise I learned to look for laughter

Started school when I was 5 I kissed the girls much later

Had a crush on Amy but I was too young to date her

Failing at the age of 5 to prove myself a man

So I started violin, the flutophone and piano

When I was in the 4th grade I fell for Miss Shapiro

Started reading Superman and he became my hero

Even though I couldn’t fly I did what I was able

Leaping in a single bound right from the kitchen table

Flying through the house pretending sister was my villain

Fighting through the years until she turned me on to Dylan

That took care of Superman in favor of the stereo

Chad and Jeremy, oh my, and Peter, Paul and Mary, oh

Entered in the working world at 13 years of age

Ten bucks every Saturday was my working wage

My best friend in high school taught me the guitar, oh

We spent every minute like there was no tomorrow

Every day we’d sing together, music was our past time

Swearing to each other that there’d never be a last time

But age would have us witness our relationship unravel

He took off for business school and I went off to travel

At 20 I went overseas looking for direction

I discovered I was only starving for affection

So I came home to see the girl who wrote me loving letters

But when I showed she changed her mind and I had to forget her

Got a job working in some warehouse for the city

Empty handed lover boy all buried in self-pity

I learned a lesson, yes I did, I’ll not do that again

Falling for a stranger fails nine time out of ten

So I became Alaska bound, oh I was 23 then

Many different jobs I found, oh I was very free then

First was advertising, then psychology

Then I heard the music call and that was it for me

Something in those melodies and being on a stage

Exciting to my soul, it was the time I came of age

Found what I was looking for, perhaps what I was given

Entertaining thoughts of entertaining for a living

Then I went to New York town, got a steady girl

With all the oysters I had found she had the only pearl

True to form I took my time and she was gone one day

Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s got away

We never had much money but that never had much meaning

We always had our choices and we did our share of dreaming

We had come to be just like a hand inside a glove, oh

Living in this world today you need someone to love

And that’s what I have learned in all these years I’ve told you of, oh

Living in this world today you need someone to love

Living in this world today you need to know your love