Poor Boy

Album: Bryter Layter (1970)
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  • Never sing for my supper
    I never help my neighbor
    Never do what is proper
    For my fair share of labor.

    I'm a poor boy
    And I'm a rover
    Count your coins and
    Throw them over my shoulder
    I may grow older
    Nobody knows
    How cold it grows
    And nobody sees
    How shaky my knees
    Nobody cares
    How steep my stairs
    And nobody smiles
    If I cross their stiles.

    Oh poor boy
    So sorry for himself
    Oh poor boy
    So worried for his health.
    You may say every day
    Where will he stay tonight.

    Never know what I came for
    Seems that I've forgotten
    Never ask what I came for
    Or how I was begotten.

    I'm a poor boy
    And I'm a ranger
    Things I say
    May seem stranger than Sunday
    Changing to Monday.
    Nobody knows
    How cold it flows
    And nobody feels
    The worn down heels
    Nobody's eyes
    Make the skies
    Nobody spreads
    Their aching heads.

    Oh poor boy
    So worried for his life
    Oh poor boy
    So keen to take a wife.

    He's a mess but he'll say yes
    If you just dress in white.

    Nobody knows
    How cold it blows
    And nobody sees
    How shaky my knees
    Nobody cares
    How steep my stairs
    And nobody smiles
    If you cross their stiles.

    Oh poor boy
    So sorry for himself
    Oh poor boy
    So worried for his health.
    You may say every day
    Where will he stay tonight.

    Oh poor boy
    So worried for his life
    Oh poor boy
    So keen to take a wife.

    Oh poor boy
    So sorry for himself
    Oh poor boy
    So worried for his health
    Oh poor boy. Writer/s: Nick Drake
    Publisher: Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 1

  • Andy from Lake City, Flnick finally reveals a sense of humor here directed at himself. coming from a wealthy family surrounded by ambitious, successful people, expectations were high for nick. the money and priveledge do not make him happy or enhance his work. nick admits the "tortured artist" label sounds absurd yet it fits him. being so entirely focused on music limits his social connections and excuses his drug use. nick invites our sympathy yet resents it as well.
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