Every Time

Well some people they claim
They never had a fair roll of the dice
They could be right
But that's not me, see I was lucky
And just had everything fall in my plate
Call it fate if you want to
But for all the elaborate setup and maneuver
Being wheeled into position to deliver some saccharine
Punch to the guts of a world screaming out
For whatever the hell they think it is that I've got

Every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet
Oh I fell, yah
And every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet
Oh I fell, yah
And every time opportunity knocks on my door
I just send it on straight down to hell
'cause every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet I fell

Well some people they imagine
The disappointment must tear me apart
Break my heart
And presume I'm disgusted
By all the injustice I've seen
But that's not me and I tell you
I bear no resentment to millionaire pop singers
Barely literate poets and guitar stock gunslingers
And I smile so politely
At the well-meaning ignorance
Of the people who tell me I'm gonna make it someday

Every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet
Oh I fell, yah
And every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet
Oh I fell, yah
And every time opportunity knocks on my door
I just send it on straight down to hell
'Cause every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet I fell

Well the sun's going down on what's left of today
And the tide drags what's left of this moment away
And so I kick through the dirt and the red autumn leaves
What I had and what I lost and what I still believe
And I have no regrets for the time that I spent
Barely paying my dues and barely paying the rent
For a simple pursuit of more honest a life
Yah I don't cheat on my taxes, I don't cheat on my wife
Now the fire's burning out and the walls closing in
And I'm dragged by the gravity into the sin
Of obedient service of some twisted machine
Blowing smoke in our faces of each little scene
Set to form a distraction just to buy up some time
Misdirected by swagger and beaten by rhyme
Telling tales of a life you might one day attain
If you just keep your focus relentlessly trained
On the things you can get and not who you can be
No the innocent dream of the sky and the sea
And the word and the truth and the spirit of man
And a history that promises one day we can
With a love for your brother and your sister and yourself
Get there one day together in good cheer and good health
But it comes at a cost, yah there's a price that you pay
For a sweet bowl tomorrow you gotta give up today
It's a sacrifice way beyond mortals like me
For an age that never was and never could ever be
So I don't dwell on the past, I don't rue my mistakes
And I'm proud that I never had whatever it takes
Now I'm stood on the deck of this leaky old boat
With just a shirt on my back and a song in my throat
And I'm the luckiest boy on the face of the earth
'Cause I know about love and I know what it's worth
So I'm not giving up, and I'm not giving in
Though I know it's a fight that I'm not gonna win
And I still scream in the face of more powerful men:
I choose this, motherfucker, and I choose it again!

'Cause every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet
Oh I fell, yah
And Every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet
Oh I fell, yah
And Every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet
Oh I fell, yah
And every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet
Oh I fell, yah
And every time opportunity knocks on my door
I just send it on straight down to hell
'Cause every time I was given a chance to stand on my own two feet
Yah every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet
Oh, every time I was given a chance
To stand on my own two feet I fell