What Does It Take To Get Lucky

Look at my face in the window,

Of that big Mercedes Benz,

I’m just another bum on the streets downtown,

I ain’t worked since God knows when;

Each night in Bluesville I been hanging out,

With all the usual layabouts,

I lost my fight with the government,

They stole my life and my confidence;

Ain’t had a job,

For so many years,

Slip slidin’ down

In a big abyss,

So many times,

Got a knife in the back,

That’s how it goes

On the wrong side of the tracks;

What does it take to get lucky?

When you’ve been living on the edge,

The price we pay to get happy,

Is way too high for an ordinary man;

What does it take to get lucky?

When you can’t beat the government,

When they can smell your desperation,

Ain’t got no money and no friends;

So many times I’ve tried to finally get it right,

Picked myself up again – and got on with my life,

I worked my life away – working for the basic wage,

When they were done with me – I found myself out on the street,

What happened to the dream of everything they promised me,

Am I supposed to fade away and leave another vacant space,

Fade to grey and disappear, like I was never really here,

If there’s a God above – I need a shot of love.

What does it take to get lucky?

We live from one day to the next

The bankers and the politicians

Are living high off the ordinary man

What does it take to get lucky?

We try to make some sense of it,

They feed off all our desperation,

Driving us down to the bitter end;

We all just live our lives from one day to the next,

Pick ourselves up again and try to make amends,

There’ll always be some guy holding up another sign

You can’t do this – and you can’t do that,

And you’d just better pay your tax

Ain’t gonna live my life by the laws of church and state

I’ll keep on working for my independence day

Break away and disappear – ain’t gonna live in fear

Sure as there’s a God above – I need a shot of love.

written by: R.Clapton

publisher: Orient Pacific Music