On the beach, writing in the sand
She's a throwaway from the promised land
All she owns is on her back
She carries everything in a little papersack
She writes her story in the sand each day
The tide rolls in to wash it all away, wash it all away
She's trying to tell us how sad it seems
To spend your life a prisoner of a dream

She' s very fragile and she lost her mind
Her life is precious, but the world is so unkind, it's so unkind
Her eyes are empty as she madly writes
She starts in the morning, she goes till late at night
Late at night
She writes her story in the sand each day
The tide rolls in to wash it all away
She's trying to tell us how sad it seems
To spend your life a prisoner of a dream
She's a prisoner

She understands there's no way out
She can't figure what the dream is all about
What's it all about?
She does her sleepîng out on the street
She burns a little money, wraps rags around her feet
Rags around her feet
She writes her story in the sand each day
The tide rolls in to wash it all away
She's trying to tell us how sad it seems
To live your life a prisoner of a dream
YOu know she's just a prisoner, she's a prisoner
All alone each and every day
It's a land of plenty, but she's got nowhere to stay
She's got nowhere to stay
The streets and alleys is where she lives
'Cause the land of plenty, it got no more to give
Got no more to give
A cardboard box gonna be her bed
The sky's the only roof above her head
The streets are teaching her what it means
To be a prisoner of the American dream
She's a prisoner, she's a prisoner, she's a prisoner
She's a prisoner, just a prisoner. She's a prisoner