Well I wouldn't have even been 13
When I read in the papers about James Dean
And I never thought anything that happened
Could make me feel that way,
And so my life became a constant dream
Of magic moments on the silver screen
Wondering how it might have been
If he hadn't died that day.
White t-shirts and faded blue jeans
How I acted out the big scenes
I was a kid just lost in a masquerade I guess,
Heated words and moody glances
Odd man out at the high school dances
But there were times I learned
When it was good to be
A little different from the rest.
And he was there when I needed a friend
To help me through the days
Now and then, Lord knows when
Just chasing the blues away,
No time for fears, no time for sorrow,
Who needs those teenage tears
When you're thinking about tomorrow,
And tomorrow shone from a silver screen
Where I knew I could be sometime
I may not have been a friend of his
But he sure was a friend of mine.
And the years just seems to fly
You never see them slipping by
And no one seems to understand
The things you're going through,
Grown up before you know
Like you're lost somewhere in limbo
And that lonely guy on the radio
Was feeling that way too.
And so I cried when he was crying
And I fell when he was falling
And when that pretty woman came walking back
I was feeling good.
Running scared and trying not to
Going back to the old Blue Bayou,
I guess I came to know the Big O
As only the lonely could.
And he was there when I needed a friend
To help me through the days
Now and then who knows when
Just chasing the blues away,
No time for fears, no time for sorrow
Who needs those teenage tears
When you're thinking about tomorrow,
And tomorrow sung from a radio
Where I knew I could be sometime
I may not have been a friend of his
But he sure was a friend of mine.
And I still can hear the screaming
Of the people there that evening
When the lights went low and it seemed
The show was set to roll,
I'd been waiting for so long
When they all came running on
There was a feeling of excitement there
That touched my very soul.
And they were calling out for Ringo
And they were begging George to solo
And a thousand calls for John and Paul
And "A Hard Day's Night",
And I'll always remember leaving
Honestly believing
That the magic of that evening
Would last me though my life.
They were there when I needed friends
To help me though the days
Now and again I remember when
They were chasing the blues away,
In times of tears, in times of sorrow
In times of fears
They had me thinking about tomorrow
And tomorrow shone for that someone
I knew I could be sometime,
I may not have been a friend of theirs
But they sure were friends of mine.