[Intro]

[Verse 1]
This deckchair collapsed
This maybe or perhaps
The route that sadness maps
Through those long and awkward gaps

Those broken fairy wings
Those tangled puppet strings
Those roundabouts or swings
The heartache indecision brings

[Chorus]
Life, my girl, will take away that optimistic skip
Stick its big foot out and try deliberately to trip
Substitute young hope with arthritic hip
Take your salad days and attach them to a drip

[Verse 2]
That bannister we slide
The wild horse we ride
That throws from side to side
The rough, the smooth, yet to decide

The cowardly, the bold
The fireworks they hold
The overkill, the undersold
Already told, yet to unfold

[Chorus]
Life, my girl, will take away that optimistic skip
Stick its big foot out and try deliberately to trip
Substitute young hope with arthritic hip
Take your salad days and attach them to a drip

[Verse 3]
That fluent Double Dutch
That feeling out of touch
That nonsense or nonsuch
Not quite enough or just too much

[Instrumental]

[Chorus]
Life, my girl, will take away that optimistic skip
Stick its big foot out and try deliberately to trip
Substitute young hope with arthritic hip
Take your salad days and attach them to a drip

[Outro]
This deck chair collapsed...