I remember my first love affair
Somehow or another
The whole darn thing went wrong
And my mama had some great advice
So I thought I'd put it into words of this song

I can still hear her saying
Girl, oh, I see
You're sitting out there all alone
Crying your eyes out
'Cause the man that you love has gone
There's gonna be a whole lot of trouble in your life

So listen to me
Get up off your knees
Cause only the strong survive
That's what she said
Only the strong survive only the strong survive

So you've gotta be strong
You'd better hold on
Don't go
Don't go around with your head hung down
Well, I wouldn't let the little boy know
I wouldn't let him know
That he made me feel like a clown
There's a whole lotta men
Looking for a good girl like you
But you know you'll never meet 'em
If you give up now and say your life is through
And then she said
Only the strong survive
Only the strong survive

If you wanna get a man
You've got to take a stand
Only the strong survive

Girl, you'd better hold on life
Girl, only the strong survive
Only the strong survive...