In ancient times the word "album" meant a tablet painted white
On which was chiseled an edict or decree
At least that's what Google told me
When I looked the word up for this song

In later times "album" was a book of blank papers of white
On which you'd write a poem or make a picture of a flame
Ooh, now the content was lit but the concept was the same
As it had been all along

An artist put his idea
Upon a stone or a page
He'd use a chisel or quill
Whatever tool made sensе for the age

He would pass pagеs out in the square
Or lay his stone in a tomb
And his idea would be there
Even when he himself was not in the room

But sometimes critics would murder all the artists
Throw their bodies and their albums in a trough
And the tablets were destroyed
But their ideas had been deployed so new artists picked up where the dead ones had left off

And I find this moving
All the while proving
An album's not forever
An album's not forever
It's a dangerous endeavor
And art is a fickle biz
So an album's not forever
But the writing on it is

In 1981, I was born and I looked like a hairy gnome
I've seen the photo neatly pasted in a tome
Picture albums in the basement back at home
I flipped through each with utmost care

I stop in my tracks
Picture of a party in the suburbs in 02
I'm obese and meek
Had many dreams but not a clue

When parties scared me I went mute or I withdrew
Unless a piano was there

The picture captures the scene
I play Les Mis and I smile
As some goldschläger teen stares mouth agape
The room just listens for a while

I imagine a future version of me
It's the man who I would become if I could
Then I think of my current reality
And I Dreamed a Dreamed resonates more than it should
Now it's 20 years later
I look nothing like the anxious boy in photographs whose dreams felt so completely far away
Remove the weight I had to shed
Not from my body but from my head
Now life's worth living but the self-doubt's still at play

And it's confusing
But it validates the musing
That an album's not forever
An album's not forever

Sometimes you've gotta sever
If you wanna get far
No, an album's not forever
But the feelings in it are

In 2079 I find an album that I made some years before
Cracked vinyl record, they don't make these anymore
I scan the titles, I feel like a dinosaur
Who survived the kaboom

I sing to myself
I remember songs they take me to an ancient time
People and memories are conjured up by rhyme
I cry and smile and reflect upon my climb
Great-granddaughter walks into my room
She looks at the record up close
Determines it is quite old
Kids are completely bewildered by the idea of music that you can hold
Computer plays us my song
Kid listens close to each word
Her blue-haired head bobs along
The slang's outdated but the point is still well heard

I never knew if the word "album" referred to the vinyl or the music within
Now as I'm getting to the end
I get that art will just transcend
Whatever package it is currently packaged in

And it's not some mystery
It's just what we call history
An album's not forever
An album's not forever
An album's not forever
An album's not forever

An album's not forever
(Family is forever)

An album's not forever
(Passion is forever)

An album's not forever
(Dreaming is forever)

An album's not forever
(Memories are forever)

An album's not forever
(Theater is forever)

An album's not forever
(New York is forever)

An album's not forever
(Les Mis is forever)

An album's not forever
(Critics are forever)

Breakup's not forever
(Feelings are forever)

Failure's not forever
(Existence is forever)

Anger's not forever
(Forgiveness is forever)

Your struggle's not forever
(Artists are forever)

But maybe if you're clever
And you keep climbing up that hill
Your album won't quite last forever but the music on it will