Ballad of the Butch

Where the hell have I been?
I moved so far away just to move back again
I took a chance on love, I didn't succeed
I thought it was what I wanted, it's not what I needed

Ten years spent waiting on all my plans to come true
A variation on the theme I thought I knew
And I guess I bought the cart before the horse
I built my ship then I set it on the wrong course

My mama said my life would be hard
Yeah, she wrote it on the inside of my twenty-first birthday card
And it's something that I can't seem to forget
But you get what you get and you don't get upset

So where the hell have I been?
I stood side-stage waiting on someone else's show to begin
And I carried that feeling around in the pit of my bones
I ache with knowing that I'm the one that set that tone

Nana said, "The nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat"
Yeah, she sat by her window at night and waited for me
And I never made it back and it's something I've come to regret
But you get what you get and you don't get upset

So where the hell have I been?
I went back home and somehow found real love again
And I carried every bag I had though the door
Showed up with my battle scars bleeding from all of them wars

My love, she tells me I have everything in my dreams
Yeah, she tells her daughter the same thing down by the maplewood stream
We try to put her to bed and she begs us, "Not yet"
I say, "You get what you get"