Man Of Great Promise

I bought the paper yesterday

And I saw the obituary

And I read of how you died in pain

Well, I just couldn't understand it



If I could of changed that

Then Lord knows I'd do it now

But there is no going back

And what's done is done forever



But you were always chained

And shackled by the dirt

Of every small town institution

And every big town flirt



And I think of what you might have been

A man of such great promise

Oh but, you seem to forget the dream

And the more you saw you hated



But let's not talk of blame

For what is only natural

Like a moth going to a flame

You had a dangerous passion



But you were always chained

And shackled by the dirt

Of every small town institution

And every big town flirt



All the things that you might have been

But who am I to say? Still I wonder

If it's the cold earth you prefer to lay

If it's the cold earth, you prefer to stay