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How Lucky Lyrics
Today I walked down the street I use to wander
Yeah, shook my head and made myself a bet
There was all these things that I don't think I remember
Hey, How lucky can one man get.
I bronzed my shoes and hung from a rearview mirror
Bronzed admiration in the blind spot of regret
There was all these things that I don't think I remember
Hey, How lucky can one man get.
Today I walked down the street I use to wander
Yeah, scratched my head and lit my cigarette
Well, There was all these things that I don't think I remember
Hey, How lucky can one man get.
Today I walked down the street I use to wander
Yeah, shook my head and made myself a bet
There was all these things that I don't think I remember
Hey, How lucky can one man get.
Hey, How lucky can one man get.
Hey, How lucky can
one ..
man..
get.
Yeah, shook my head and made myself a bet
There was all these things that I don't think I remember
Hey, How lucky can one man get.
Bronzed admiration in the blind spot of regret
There was all these things that I don't think I remember
Hey, How lucky can one man get.
Yeah, scratched my head and lit my cigarette
Well, There was all these things that I don't think I remember
Hey, How lucky can one man get.
Yeah, shook my head and made myself a bet
There was all these things that I don't think I remember
Hey, How lucky can one man get.
Hey, How lucky can one man get.
Hey, How lucky can
one ..
man..
get.
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JP wrote this song on his 30th birthday after breaking a fanbelt in his car. At the time I was a boy and now I'm a middle-aged man. This past weekend my wife unloaded some items from my parents house, which is being sold as they have both passed. After she went to bed I had some beers and looked at old photo albums. My childhood home seemed so much smaller than I remembered and each picture brought a flood of memories. Were my parents ever that young? If I could do it over would I do things differently? Absolutely. Would I trade any of my memories? Absolutely not.Those are the feelings exhibited in this song. Lucky to get out of Maywood? More like just plain lucky.
this is it, this is the feeling.
this is it, this is the feeling.
I felt the same way after my mom's passing. I was driving down the road on a sunny day in my hometown, seeing all the beauty in the country road I used to take for granted and couldn't wait to get away from. It's always looking back we realize how good we had it, gilded or not, all of the memories and lifetimes we lived, how precious they are because once they're gone they're gone for good. It's a bittersweet part of the human condition missing the time you once had, but feeling so grateful you had the chance to experience it....
I felt the same way after my mom's passing. I was driving down the road on a sunny day in my hometown, seeing all the beauty in the country road I used to take for granted and couldn't wait to get away from. It's always looking back we realize how good we had it, gilded or not, all of the memories and lifetimes we lived, how precious they are because once they're gone they're gone for good. It's a bittersweet part of the human condition missing the time you once had, but feeling so grateful you had the chance to experience it. How lucky.
Just a couple of things to add... In the Soundstage 1980 video John plays "How Lucky" with John Burns, and gives a short explanation before the song...(Last one in the set)
He says: It's just that I never really really thought that age mattered much, Age was like a somethin' that, you know, was there every year; Like Christmas... Yeah I never really thought it mattered a lot...but I guess, It started, it mattered a whole lot to me...It seemed like I went back over everything I'd ever done, and wondered if I wanted to do that for the next 30..or not. I finally decided , what the heck; I might as well..."
to which John Burns replies: So far, so good"
Prine finishes saying it was a Radiator Hose that broke; (could have been anything that day...)
But more interestingly, he says that he would have finished the song that day; but fixing the car interrupted him; his exact words are: (as he asks John Burns before they start playing) "You know how little things like that can stop great Novels, and insignificant songs?" John replies: "Every time" then they launch into a perfect finger-picked rendition of "How Lucky" on You tube and DVD if you can still find it...
What an amazing writer; even when he's just talking on the back porch, it's like great lyrics just pour out of him. Great Novels and Insignificant Songs... Farthest thing from insignificant. It always felt like we were hanging out with him on the back porch..
It's hard to imagine this song being incomplete; I always thought it was perfect; but I now wonder what 2-3 more verses from John that day had the radiator hose NOT broken; would he have captured for us all to ponder, and like he says in verse 3, for us to "scratch our head" over...
The difference between what's in your memory, and what's actually in the places you remember.
Is he lucky he got out of there?
I think he sings 'shook my hand'.... Also, 'bronzed admiration in the blind spot of regret'. If that's what he's singing, I've no idea what it means!
Anyway, great song.