Nothing is real
In Cardboard California
Just waking up
Brings you down
One lousy deal
Is Cardboard California
You just can't survive
In a make believe town

Lost in a city of little tin gods
Cold plastic people with phony facades
How can you win when you look at the odds?

You're running down a one way street
Nobody cares if you survive
Sometimes you beg or you don't eat
You gotta fight to stay alive
Hey
You're never gonna get away

Where's the world you used to know?
Where did all the good times go?
Look around your hopes and dreams are gone
But like a fool you still keep hanging on

Come and be a movie star
Come and drive a fancy car
Come and see
What you really are
Everybody's going somewhere
But you
You're going nowhere

Look in the mirror
Mirrors don't lie
You're getting older, your time's past you by
You lost your shot
To some younger guy

You're running down a one way street
Nobody cares if you survive
Sometimes you beg or you don't eat
You gotta fight to stay alive
Hey
You're never gonna get away

Nothing is real
In Cardboard California
Just waking up
Brings you down
One lousy deal
Is Cardboard California
You just can't survive
In a make believe town