That Could Have Been Me

[Intro]
I don't know which way, the ball just bounces
I don't know, maybe the cards just fall
Or maybe there's some ancient chain of causes and effects
Got one man walking proud while another man crawls

[Verse 1]
There's a guy sleeping out on the sidewalk in November
Newspaper pillow, rag for a coat, tangle of filthy hair
Imagine the story that probably goes with this picture
Imagine the forces that picked him up somewhere in life
And then threw him down there

[Pre-Chorus 1]
He was somebody's friend
Maybe somebody's lover
He was somebody's bouncing baby boy
He might even still have a father and mother

[Chorus]
That could have been me
That could have been you
It should have been fiction
Turns out to be true
Turns out to be true

[Verse 2]
There's another kind of guy living up on the top of this city
View of the mountains, view of the ocean, view of the losers below
He probably didn't wind up living there accidentally
He got all the right breaks, he caught all the right waves
Figured out which way the wind here blows

[Pre-Chorus 2]
And he thinks about power
And he thinks about fabulous wealth
When he thinks about people at all
They're only important in terms of himself

[Chorus]
And that could have been me
That could have been you
It should have been fiction
Turns out to be true

That could have been me
That could have been you
I wish it would have been fiction
Instead of the truth
Turns out to be true