Hang On

I've got a cobalt friend now he spends his time

Looking for people to feed him lines.

Feeling up his head then reaching for mine

I ask him how he's doing and he says "Just fine".

He calls it learning, but we know that he's dying.

That seems to be the price when you're walking on ice

It ain't so nice, but it helps to pass the time.

You got to hang on, you got to hang on, you got to hang on

Before you fall, hey, before you fall.

At social functions of the marching band

He takes his routine up on the stand,

And trying to get the lay of the land

You know he sings and dances in the burning sand

Until someone puts a microphone in his hand.

And then he will say as he slowly backs away

"Another day perhaps you'll understand.

You got to hang on, you got to hang on, you got to hang on

Before you fall, before you fall."

With maps and charts now he plots the skies

Surrounds himself with mystic eyes

Dwells on deeds of other lives,

Sings secret chants and lullabies

Then he'll come to sit and hypothesize

Again and again about the shape that he's in.

Well now he's my friend but I know that they're mostly sighs

You got to hang on, you got to hang on, you got to hang on

Before you fall, before you fall.

And running behind the Hit Parade

He yells out songs that others have made

Unable to see his own masquerade

You know he waves his sword with the gilt edge blade

And I'd love to send him to Travelers' Aid

For when he hears the sound of the stuff he's putting down

He might drown in his own cascade.

You got to hang on, you got to hang on, you got to hang on

Before you fall, before you fall,

Before you fall, fall, fall, before you fall,

You got to hang on, Sloopy, hang on,

Hang on before you fall, all right.