Like ghosts on open windows The curtains rise and fall The past is a foreign country At the dark end of the hall And the morning is an offering To the shelter of the day But the violent come and they bury it away Time goes by at the speed of life Slower than a slow dance on a hot summer night Faster than the skin breaks on the edge of a knife And we just go on at the speed of life Like questions begging answers The stars appear at night What's it mean to love somebody What's it mean to be alive I heard a little girl laughing At her first sight of snow Saw an old man dying In a room he didn't know While the world turns through the ages It's a most peculiar ride Holding on to one another Moving at the speed of life We just go on at the speed of life A family on the midway in the carnival lights Moving in a circle through the sounds and the sights And it all goes by at the speed of life ( Solo ) Time goes by at the speed of life Slower than a slow dance on a hot summer night Faster than the skin breaks, baby On the edge of a knife And we just go on and on at the speed of life Moving at the speed of life Speed of life On and on and on and on On and on and on and on