I had it tough when I was just a little kid

It didn't matter what I thought

It didn't matter what I did

I felt the doubt for what I lacked right from the start

It did a number on my head but it could never touch my heart

'Cause I had just enough imagination

Just enough to keep the faith

That somehow I would think of what to do

When I'd get lost in a momentary weakness of emotion

All the Angels came around to help me through



Life pulls fast changes

Wind blows past pages

All I see is I don't need this

High strung tightrope walk

Ticking time bomb clock

Scratch my name off

Cut these chains



Chorus:

I'm free...Kicking out of that prison

I am free...Singing those words of wisdom

Let it be...Nobody's gonna put the blues inside of me



And in the stress to be the best I've done it all

I've slammed the doors I've jammed the locks

I've laid the bricks, I've built the walls

No one could tell me back then why joy eluded me

Kept bumping into that misery

Locked up deep down inside of me



Took that rage and I

Turned that page and I

Packed my tools, went back to school

And I passed my graduation, and I hold my Ph.D.

In crash test blues I paid those dues



(Chorus)



Time flies by in photographs and paper scraps and songs

Here I stand in ruby slippers, three times takes me home



(Chorus)