Released: June 15, 2010
Songwriter: John Mellencamp
Producer: John Mellencamp
Suzanne divorced her husband
She got the keys to the car and the home
But her friends were really his friends
No one stops by to see her much anymore
So one night she goes back down to the old haunts
That once upon a time were her own
She didn't know nobody out there no more
And the whole experience just made her feel so old
She says
I want to live the real life
I want to live my life close to the bone
Just because I'm middle-aged that don't mean
I want to sit around my house and watch T.V
I want the real life
I want to live the real life
Jackson Jackson was a good kid
He had four years of college and a bachelor's degree
Started workin' when he was 21
Got fed up and quit when he was 43
He said, "My whole life I've done what I'm supposed to do
Now I'd like to maybe do something for myself
And just as soon as I figure out what that is
You can bet your life I'm gonna give it hell"
He says
I want to live the real life
I want to live my life close to the bone
Just because I'm middle-aged that don't mean
I want to sit around my house and watch T.V
I want the real life
I want to live the real life
I guess it don't matter how old you are
Or how old one lives to be
I guess it boils down to what we did with our lives
And how we deal with our own destinies
But something happens
When you reach a certain age
Particularly to those ones that are young at heart
It's a lonely proposition when you realize
That's there's less days in front of the horse
Than riding in the back of this cart
I say
I want to live the real life
I want to live my life close to the bone
Just because I'm middle-aged that don't mean
I want to sit around my house and watch T.V
I want the real life
I want to live the real life
She got the keys to the car and the home
But her friends were really his friends
No one stops by to see her much anymore
So one night she goes back down to the old haunts
That once upon a time were her own
She didn't know nobody out there no more
And the whole experience just made her feel so old
She says
I want to live the real life
I want to live my life close to the bone
Just because I'm middle-aged that don't mean
I want to sit around my house and watch T.V
I want the real life
I want to live the real life
Jackson Jackson was a good kid
He had four years of college and a bachelor's degree
Started workin' when he was 21
Got fed up and quit when he was 43
He said, "My whole life I've done what I'm supposed to do
Now I'd like to maybe do something for myself
And just as soon as I figure out what that is
You can bet your life I'm gonna give it hell"
He says
I want to live the real life
I want to live my life close to the bone
Just because I'm middle-aged that don't mean
I want to sit around my house and watch T.V
I want the real life
I want to live the real life
I guess it don't matter how old you are
Or how old one lives to be
I guess it boils down to what we did with our lives
And how we deal with our own destinies
But something happens
When you reach a certain age
Particularly to those ones that are young at heart
It's a lonely proposition when you realize
That's there's less days in front of the horse
Than riding in the back of this cart
I say
I want to live the real life
I want to live my life close to the bone
Just because I'm middle-aged that don't mean
I want to sit around my house and watch T.V
I want the real life
I want to live the real life
more tracks from the album
On the Rural Route 7609
- The Real Life
- Your Life Is Now
- Don’t Need This Body
- Sweet Evening Breeze
- The Full Catastrophe
- My Aeroplane
- Troubled Land
- Someday the Rains Will Fall
- Theo and Weird Henry
- Women Seem
- Between a Laugh and a Tear
- If I Die Sudden
- Peaceful World
- To Washington
- Colored Lights
- The World Don’t Bother Me None
- Jack and Diane (Writing Demo)
- Jenny at 16
- Rain on the Scarecrow
- Jim Crow
- Big Daddy of Them All
- What If I Came Knocking
- Longest Days
- Sugar Marie
- Mr. Bellows
- Deep Blue Heart
- Love and Happiness
- Someday
- Forgiveness
- To M.G. (Wherever She May Be)
- For the Children
- Freedom’s Road
- Our Country (Alternative Version)
- Jim Crow
- Thank You
- Ghost Towns Along the Highway
- Jackie Brown
- Cherry Bomb
- Jack & Diane
- L.U.V.
- County Fair
- When Jesus Left Birmingham
- Country Gentleman
- Rural Route
- Void in My Heart
- Just Like You
- Rodeo Clown
- A Ride Back Home
- Authority Song
- Grandma’s Theme
- Death Letter
- Young Without Lovers
- Pink Houses
From the album
- On the Rural Route 7609 (2010)
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