We lived in Paia: hippie central
I could hop to the beach
Sometimes we would hitchhike miles to school
"School" being a figure of speech, where we sang
"Ka huli aku, ka huli mai..."
We lived on a zendo in the forest
Silence for days on end
Caught up on my reading: Huckleberry Finn was my only friend
It could have been paradise, but for the horrible bugs
I could have gone to a real school, but for the murderous thugs
In the forests of paradise, we gathered magic mushrooms
But mostly I sat around in rooms as quiet as tombs
It was heaven
My mother took up with a trumpeter: red beard and porkpie hat
Found a lyric of mine, he took it home, and set music to that
To impress my mother, he stole my song? Better back off mister
Fast forward two decades: Same thing happened
But with Shakespear's Sister
But why should it be paradise? That's just a place people go
It was home, for a little while, but you can give me the snow
Give me the snow
My friend Shell was named for a shell on a beach
She spoke pidgin English
Every day I swam out onto the beach
Catching "exotic" fish
It could have been paradise, with one good reason to stay
If it had been paradise, guess we'd still be there today
Singing away
'73 It Could Have Been Paradise Lyrics performed by The Magnetic Fields are property and copyright of the authors, artists and labels. You should note that '73 It Could Have Been Paradise Lyrics performed by The Magnetic Fields is only provided for educational purposes only and if you like the song you should buy the CD