That Was the Way It Was Then

Do the cowboys still sit with their backs to the wall
Do the drifters still answer the highwayman's call
And do the old hobos still cook their beans in a tin
Do the sailors still cast their fates to the wind

Are the villains in black hats are the heroes in white
Are there sock-hoppin’ rock and rollin' Saturday nights
Would a '49 Mercury still be outta sight
Well that was the way it was then

You were like Natalie I was James Dean
Slow walkin’ soft talkin' silently mean
Surely that rebel in me lives again
But now without a cause to be all caught up in

Oh the blacks have their freedom and the reds are our friends
And we've ended a war we could not seem to win
And the Folk singers' out on his ass once again
My how the times they have changed

It's a quarter to ten and I'm lyin' in bed
Spinnin' that old memory thing in my head
The times were so good and the songs were so sad
It was a game we would play feellin’ good feelin’ bad

And there's a girl I remember now what was her name
Why we made love one night in a hell of a rain
Well maybe ten minutes how time then would fly
It will never be that way again