Borrowed Time
Written by Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw
Lead Vocals by Dennis DeYoung
Yeah yeah!
Don't look now, but here come the eightees!
I was so cool back in sixty-five
I had it made 'cause I understood what to do to survive
I had my car, and I made the scene
Didn't give a damn about no gasoline
They can go to hell
My friend we never thought about the world
And its realities
The promised land was ours
We were the Great Society
I'm so confused by the things I read, I need the truth
But the truth is, I don't know who to believe
The left say yes, and the right says no
I'm in between and the more I learn
Well, the less that I know
I got to make a show
Livin' high, living fine
Livin' high on borrowed time
Yes! No!
Yes! No!
No! Yes!
No! Yes!
Faith be with me now
I'm just a dreamer in a dreamland
Faith be with me now
I'm just a dreamer in a dreamland
'Cause we're
Livin' high
Livin' fine (You know I'm livin' fine)
Livin' high (Yes I'm livin' high)
On borrowed time (On borrowed time)
Livin' high (Whoohoo!)
Livin' fine (Ahhh!)
Livin' high
On Lake Shore Drive (Midnight ride)
Livin' high (We're livin' high)
On Leslie Lane (Let's go back and play it again!)
Livin' high (We're livin' high)
On Red Bud Trail (On Red Bud, Red Bud Trail!)
Livin' high
On Central Drive (He's on Central Drive!)
Livin' high (We're livin', livin' high)
On Prestwick Drive (Catch me on Prestwick Drive!...)
Livin' high (...gettin' in and drivin' my Mercedes...)
Livin' fine (...up and down and up and down -- sh*t! I don't....)
Interpretation
Life is not as simple as it used to seem when we were younger and blind to the realities of the world around us. The world is a complicated place, and most things are too complex for a black and white view.
The Great Society was President Lyndon B. Johnson's vision of a poverty-free America, propped up by his ambitious social programs. They sounded good at the time, but the vision never came to pass.
The statement "the left says yes and the right says no" is representing the social permissiveness of the liberal left and the contrasting social conservatism of the conservative right. Most Americans fall somewhere in between.
All we can do is make the most of our situation.
The streets listed at the end of the song are the streets where the members of Styx were living in Chicago at the time the song was written. Chuck Panozzo lived on Lake Shore Drive. John Panozzo lived on Leslie Lane. Tommy Shaw lived on Red Bud Trail. James Young lived on Central Drive. Dennis DeYoung lived on Prestwick Drive.
Here's what Dennis said about Borrowed Time in a 1980 interview with Songwriter magazine:
Dennis
I wanted to say something about how I felt about a guy who grew up in the 60s, was a teenager when things were really wonderful in this country, and does not know what the hell happened. He is the poor son of a bitch who is saying in the first verse "I'm from 1965, and at that point in my life I had it all together, 'cause I knew what I had to do to survive. Now I do not know any more what I am supposed to do. There are no rules, I don't know what the rules are any more."
Songwriter
Haven't some of your fans interpreted that song somewhat differently?
DeYoung
A lot of people have interpreted that song, and wrongly, that the guy is talking about just being a big rock star, having all this money..."Living high and living fine, living high on borrowed time"--doesn't that lyric tell anybody anything? I tried to draw a comparison between Americans in general and the rock star. "When the left says 'yes' and the right says 'no,' he does not know who to believe anymore." He is the guy from 1965 who believed in John Kennedy and in America. Since that time he does not know what to believe.
Songwriter
How much of the person in that song is Dennis DeYoung?
DeYoung
That is me.
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