Text: Todd Rundgren. Fair Warning.

You know, wishing won't make it so
Hoping won't do it, praying won't do it
Religion won't do it, philosophy won't do it
The supreme court won't do it

The president and the congress won't do it
The UN won't do it, the H-bomb won't do it
The sun and the moon won't do it
And God won't do it and I certainly won't do it
That leaves you, you'll have to do it

I know that you've been wondering
If I'm the same man inside
Never tried to fool you
'Cause I've got nothing to hide

I gave you fair warning, I could never be tied down
'Til I've seen paradise with my very own eyes
Love owns us all, time owns us all, life owns us all
But the world doesn't own me
The world doesn't own me

Don't you follow me now
I ain't afraid to say, I may have been wrong
I have to go now
I'd rather live by a dream than live by a lie

And that's why, there ain't no cure for what I've got baby
We just have to suffer
I feel no pain, I can't complain
Things could always be rougher

But I picked up this banner
And I just can't put it down
I can't let the world die
Just 'cause no one would try

Love owns us all, time owns us all, life owns us all
But the world doesn't own me
The world doesn't own me

Don't you follow me now
Everybody's got to find his own place in the sun
Everyone so shine on me now
I'd rather live by a dream then live by a lie

You can say what you will about me
Talk is cheap and I don't mind
When you lay your life down in them grooves
You know you're bound to get scratched up sometime

It's only just a song, only just a song, pay me no mind
It's just a song, pay me no mind

I have to go now
You've got to walk that road alone
If you walk it at all, walk it all
Don't follow me now
I gave you all fair warning, now it's goodbye
I gave you all fair warning, now it's goodbye

And every once in a while why don't you think of me
'Cause it's a long, long time and a long way to go
Can't you see the light shining in my eyes
'Cause it's just one victory

'Cause your dream goes on forever
Don't you know that I've been trying
To get my trip together be a real man
I got to be a real man

1 2 3 do it one more time be a real man
Everybody be a real man
Go then, don't believe and I don't know
'Cause I got to be a real man

You can be a man, a real man
I'll swim that river, climb that mountain
You and me, we all gotta be, real men