You say you're down and out and need some help to get you through each day
Well, here's a thought or two I've used and like to pass them on your way
I found them lying there, the answers that you say you're looking for
Make what you will of them and you can change the way it was before

You got to make it by yourself
You know you got to make it by yourself
I'll be your friend and I'll lend a helping hand
But you got to try and help yourself before I can

I hear you talk of all the happiness and emptiness you've known
Well, let me reassure you, never were you really all alone
They say in quiet desperation many people cannot see
They cannot see the simple truth that's not the way it has to be

You got to find it for yourself
God helps the man who helps himself, amen
I am your friend and I'll lend a helping hand
But you got to try and help yourself before I can

We got to help (we got to help) each other (each other)
You got to help (you to help) your brother when you can
When you can

Now don't you think that I was preaching, I'm just reaching out for you
'Cause that's the only way that I know how to get the message through
Then you, in turn, have got to learn and teach it to somebody who
Who felt the happiness, the emptiness the same as you
You got to make it by yourself
You know you got to make it by yourself
I'll be your friend and I'll lend a helping hand
But you got to try and help yourself before I can