I remember the days when we talked for hours
And we were young, we thought we had superpowers
We kissed the sky, expanded our minds, thought we could fly
We were dreamers and we'd never die

We were young punks but we showed potential
Was us against the world, we weren't sentimental
We weren't our problems, our age or our paychecks
And we weren't taking anybody's shit

If I know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road

Know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ? take a ride down that yellow brick road

Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise

The winters were cold but we had your parents basement
This underground was for sinners and we embraced it
Magic pills, fairy tales, Syd Barrett's ghost
Oh, we'd all get on that spaceship

We measured our lives in coffee spoons
And those Friday nights quickly turned into Sunday afternoons
We weren't our money, our muscles or our regrets
We were having a mere life experience

If I know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road

Know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road

I remember the days when we talked for hours
And we were young, we thought we had superpowers
We weren't our problems, our age or our paychecks
And we weren't taking anybody's shit

If I know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road

Know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
Take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road

Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise


Lyrics submitted by Zurby87

Yellow Brick Road Lyrics as written by Michael Maida

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Yellow Brick Road song meanings
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26 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    what I believe he's getting at with "If I knew now what I knew then" is that when you're a kid, you thing you know everything about everything. Thing seem more simple when you "know everything", so I think he's saying if he knew everything now like he did when he was a kid, he'd have all the answers and everything would be easy.

    J_ession January 04, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think it says: We weren't our problems, our age or our paycheques.

    thackeryon October 09, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Fixed. Thanks!

    Zurby87on October 14, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    fucking ace. full stop.

    blackmyeyeson October 25, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think the lyrics are: "If I know now what I knew then .."

    This song is amaaaaazing.

    xoandieeon November 03, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    We weren't our problems, our age or our paychecks and We weren't our money, our muscles or our regrets. not to be picky or anything:) and im not sure, but it might be "wise up" innstead of rise up

    but anyways great song amazing lyrics amazing musician.

    eckstremiston November 04, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Not sure about the rise/wise or the know/knew, but I'll change it if others agree.

    Zurby87on November 06, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Im pretty sure it is rise up, but the Know thing is like 99%. Unless someone has his actual lyric book and can actually counter that.

    just think about it though - if hes talking about knowing something now - how can you "knew" something in the present tense? "Knew" is past tense. "If I knew now" wouldn't really be gramatically correct. It would kinda be an oxymoron.

    But like I said - if someone has the lyric book, then they should go by that.

    xoandieeon November 09, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    It actually makes perfect grammatical sense. Think about it. Haven't you ever heard anyone say "If I knew that, I would..."

    Knew is the present as well as past tense. Know is "to know". I'm not an english major obviously, but it's very clear that knew is the appropriate word in this situation. And it also clearly sounds like knew.

    Also, it sounds like "wise up" to me.

    RileyLewison November 12, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Having seen it live - I believe he does say "Wise"

    youtube.com/watch

    Still hearing him say "know" though.

    xoandieeon November 13, 2007   Link

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