The Balance Lyrics - Steppenwolf

Nineteen-hundred-sixty-four 

We were kids, didn't know about the war 

Still wasting time in school 

There were Joe and Sue, Jack and Jim 

A couple more in the second string 

All the rest just weren't cool 

Ah, we'd hang around in our little gang 

Having dreams, making plans for the outside world 

But when I see us now, I really find it strange 

How little, how much we've changed 

In the years gone by 

I guess it's meant to be that way 

Jimmy always played the clown 

It was his way of hanging on to the crowd 

But when he was down he'd come around 

To get his hands on every agent known to man 

No matter how from Aspirin to Xylatol 

Crazy Jimmy tried them all 

And he was dying but now he's fine 

For he gets up at five o'clock 

Runs ten miles in the L.A. smog, still crazy 

I've heard him say that anything worth really doing 

Should be done until you're falling down 

And though he left the road to ruin 

He's found a new way to the ground 

He still ain't found his balance 

Joe was never hard to please 

When they said, go, he went overseas into battle 

He stuck it out to the bitter end 

Lived like a dog, fought like a man in the saddle 

And when he came home from Vietnam 

They said, the war did him no harm, they're lying 

He's known to cry and scream at times, in his dreams 

Holding off the nightmares that he sees 

Time may heal the nightly screaming 

But the scars will still remain 

He fights so hard to kill his demon 

At times the pain drives him insane 

Trying to regain his balance 

Jack and Susie lost no tome 

They went to college and carried signs in the rally 

And finally with cap and gown 

They tied the knot and settled down in the valley 

Susie's got the house and the children 

But no time for her to grow 

And Jack is making their first million 

And until they can't let go 

I guess they'll owe the balance 

We don't talk much anymore 

Seems our little gang is bored with callin' 

Anyway we're too busy with gettin' on 

And looking out for number one 

Is all we got in common 

With business, home, family 

Are we ever all that we could be? 

Trading in our fantasy 

We live this part time life of false security 

Seems to me that doers never dream enough 

And dreamers often do nothing at all 

And to find that middle ground is rough 

But I'll be damned if I let go 

Stop looking for the balance