That House Was A Shell

He went to the army

To fly overseas

Though he lied to get in

Yeah, just seventeen

When he drifted from Brooklyn

To be something other

Than what he was being

He came home and married

Bought a house on a lake

Where he never went hungry

But one day was killed by a loneliness

Greater than the mightiest

Empire State

And my mother cried

Though her mother cried harder

They waited in Hell

Two songs and a daughter

And a woman who stayed

Though she knew

That house was a shell.

Now I live in Boston

My head's filled with fear

It's quiet like the snow

In New England this year

There's no telling how long it'll be

Before it all ends

How long will this thing

Still shake in my hands?

How long will I walk

Like I've got the bends?

I came up too quick

Now there's nowhere to go

But down again.

So how do you die

When you know there's a reason in staying alive?

I don't wanna die

But I don't know the reason in staying alive