If I Could Live Long Enough
from If I Could Live Long Enough by Tobin Mueller
Want to be an astronaut... play golf on the moon.
Want to invent something sleek and cool that will change the world.
Want to step on a stage and accept some big, tall, golden award,
so I can thank all the people that came before.
If I could live enough.
If I could just live long enough to be all I want to be.
Be a deep sea diver.
Be a rich man’s lawyer.
Be a toy designer.
Be a fair employer.
Be an honest lover.
Be a gracious friend.
Be the one to discover how this story ends.
How this story ends.
I’ve been the scourge of the world to my first wife;
salvation to my second.
I’ve been a hero of sorts in the coffee shop with everyone saying, “Hey,” as they beckon.
Now I’m anonymous and free, with a lot less to say
and a lot more to reckon...
if I could live enough.
If I could just live long enough to be all I want to be.
Let me be what I am.
Every day a new man.
I want too many thrills for one lifetime to fill.
Can’t see where I’m moving.
Can’t teach what I feel.
These days there’s no proving that anything’s real,
and so got to be myself and so
got to be myself,
if I live long enough.
If I live long enough.
You say you want to know me.
I can’t stop my life.
You say you got to find me.
It’s me, here, by your side.
Let me be what I am.
Every day a new man.
I want too many thrills for one lifetime to fill.
Can’t see where I’m moving.
Can’t teach what I feel.
These days there’s no proving that anything’s real, and so
got to be myself and so
got to be myself.
If I live long enough I could be everything to me,
I could be everything to you.
You say you want to know me.
I can’t stop my life.
You say you got to find me.
It’s me, here, by your side.
Want to see what they’re saying in tomorrow’s news.
Want to see grandkids dancing around the way kids do.
I want to thank all the people, especially you.
If I could live enough.
If I could just live long enough to be all I want to be.
©2004 Tobin Mueller
It's great to have friends that love to jam. This song includes a room full of bluegrass players who happened to stop by. The lyrics grew out of my desire to write a whimsical, ironic, comic love song. It became something more, which is always fun.
John Selvia lent his amazing bass talent, bringing a subtle jazz sense to an otherwise mainstream folk tune. Suzanne also had me add one more stanza to the lyrics (which I cut from the original version first posted on Macjams.com), giving the song a new coda.
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