PUSHIN' 40 MID-CRISIS-LIFE BLUES             © 2008 Acoustic Ross

i was raised in a small ohio town
went to school where they shot those kids down
tv jobs in town after town, never intending on settling down
till i moved here, and my pace slowed down
i know i just rhymed 'down' with 'down' three times - i don't play by the rules
i'm better than i want to be at suffering fools
i'm not gonna change my life in a day
oh, calgon, take me away

i was brought up on music, and star trek too
three older sisters and i learned soon
to spend a lot of time in my room
if i was a comic then, my thought balloon would read: 
  this childhood thing is a drag
  this growing up crap just isn't my bag
  i wanna be older and wiser, fast
  these formative years need to be in my past
i was awkward and sad, and development bored me
even then i wanted to be pushing 40

they used me as a human remote control
i thought that music might save my soul
so i locked myself away with my collection
and memorized everything from abba to zeppelin
i didn't care about style or forms, my favorite stuff never fit any norms
music was power, and if it was done right
i would listen and study it every damn night
metal and jazz and punk and new age and folk and funk
and i dreamed of the stage

i couldn't dance, but i had my own car
i stopped caring how lucky the kids with dates are
i got older in time and i bought a guitar
and i moved to the stage from the back of the bar
and i moved to missouri, a solo act
wrote some funny songs, most were just crap
moved on to tulsa, started building a life
while most guys my age were already taking wives
but following rules always did bore me
still just wanted to be pushing 40

it's not always fun and games in my head
some days i think i should put this to bed
i get what tom lehrer meant when he said:
  when mozart was my age, he was already dead
you damn kids, get off my lawn
don't make me turn around this song
i wait and i wonder and i feel myself age
and i realize i'm ripening right here on stage
my thirties were chaos, but at least they didn't bore me
holy crap, now i AM pushing 40

my life was in turmoil, it was all my damn fault
the good times seemed like they'd screeched to a halt
so i gathered my gear and set out to record
a new record that i could maybe adore
and i brought in some friends, we were right on the verge
new ideas came up and a new sound emerged
suddenly i had it, one more new trick, a new 12-bar blues to make this thing stick
i'll put it up front so we get to it shortly
i'll sing about how i LIKE pushing 40.