[Verse 1]
Once you were the talk of the town
Oh, once you were the life of the party, you're a buzzkill now
And it’s so strange to see you caving in
Kicking up dust on a long road, honey, always tryin' to begin
But you found forty bucks in a hotel bible
In a run-down room with nothing on TV
And you acted out your lines there in the mirror
You could act out all that nothin' perfectly
So you conjured up a borrowed voice and new suit
And you stole a light for all that shadowplay
And you won the crowd in Brooklyn with your cheap tricks
Like you won the crowd with sweet talk in LA

[Pre-Chorus]
Well, you don’t see the air you breathe
The weather's warm and welcoming every day and night
And you don't see the web they weave is one of many
Hanging off the Hollywood sign

[Chorus]
But you ain't gonna shake my bones with all that caterwaul
And you ain't gonna shake my bones with all that pretty talk
On paper, it's an empty ruse
On paper, it's an empty tomb
A paperboy's nothing new, but you don’t know it all
You don’t know it all

[Verse 2]
Once you were the talk of the town
Oh, once you were the showboat honey, but your ship sailed out
And it hurt bad when you heard the stranger say
That your bird in the hand was a flash in the pan when you let it fly away
You were supposed to be in the park on a billboard, singin'
And every passerby wonders where you’re gone
You been stowed up in your attic, always thinkin'
'Bout the next big plan for all your little songs

[Pre-Chorus]
And you don't keep bad company
How do you not say a single thing when you talk that long?
When you don’t see the air you breathe
What's there to write about when nothing's going wrong?

[Chorus]
But you ain't gonna shake my bones with all that caterwaul
And you ain't gonna shake my bones with all that pretty talk
On paper, it's an empty ruse
On paper, it's an empty tomb
A paperboy's nothing new, but you don't know it all
You don't know it all
You don't know it all
You never knew it all