American Dream

Album: American Dream (1988)
Charted: 55
Play Video
  • I used to see you on every T.V
    Your smiling face looked back at me
    I used to see you on every T.V
    Your smiling face looked back at me

    Then they caught you with the girl next door
    People's money piled on the floor
    Accusations that you try to deny
    Revelations and rumors begin to fly

    Now you think about reaching out
    Try to get some help from above
    Now you think about reaching out
    Try to get some help from above
    Reporters crowd around your house
    Going through your garbage like a pack of hounds
    Speculating what they may find out
    It don't matter now, you're all washed up

    You wake up in the middle of the night
    Your sheets are wet and your face is white
    You tried to make a good thing last
    How could something so good, go bad, so fast?

    American dream, American dream
    American dream, American dream

    Don't know when things went wrong
    Might have been when you were young and strong
    Don't know when things went wrong
    Might have been when you were young and strong

    Reporters crowd around your house
    Going through your garbage like a pack of hounds
    Speculating what they may find out
    It don't matter now, you're all washed up

    Don't know when things went wrong
    Might have been when you were young and strong
    American dream, American dream
    Don't know when things went wrong
    Might have been when you were young and strong
    American dream, American dream Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 5

  • Charmaine from CtProphetic song, indeed! Forget about Hart… we’re talking 2026, folks.
  • Jonny Pineapple from Laguna BeachWhen I first read the lyrics I thought the song was about Jim Baker. I was a baby when the song was released. I don’t know who Gary Hart is. I always learn new stuff at SongFacts.
  • Anonymous from Arroyo Grande CaBring the guys back..they are like no other.
  • Leia from San FranciscoThe last cut on this album, "Night Song" was written for the twenty-seventh episode of the reboot of the television series "The Twilight Zone."

    This program aired as the third episode of the second season in 1986–87 with a slight difference in the show's titling: "Nightsong."

    "Nightsong" is the only Twilight Zone episode to ever air without the iconic narration/voice over at either the beginning and the end. "Instead, the track for "Night Song" is played intro/outroing the episode.
  • Kevin from Reading , PaThis was a pretty poor Neil Young song, but, still, probably the third best song on this disappointing album. The best tracks were "Name of Love" also by Young and "Clear Blue Skies," a typically lightweight environmental tune from Nash, but still better than the rest of the dreck on this album.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears

David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & TearsSongwriter Interviews

The longtime BS&T frontman tells the "Spinning Wheel" story, including the line he got from Joni Mitchell.

Ramones

RamonesFact or Fiction

A band so baffling, even their names were contrived. Check your score in the Ramones version of Fact or Fiction.

Bill Withers

Bill WithersSongwriter Interviews

Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Christopher Cross

Christopher CrossSongwriter Interviews

The man who created Yacht Rock with "Sailing" wrote one of his biggest hits while on acid.

Devo

DevoSongwriter Interviews

Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale take us into their world of subversive performance art. They may be right about the De-Evoloution thing.