This song was put together - real quickly - as an exercise for Country Rose's Songwriter Workshop. Each Tuesday night, we meed for a "chat" session, and someone puts up an exercise or assignment for the following week. This was what I came up with for the 4/20/99 exercise:

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This Day Forward

copyright 1999 Charles Wolff

(chorus)
I spent half of my life trying to get to the top,
The other half tryin' to make the little voice stop,
Little voice tellin' me I'd better quit doin' the things I do.
Years spent storing up treasures on earth,
Years more wondering what it's all worth;
This day forward I'm gonna try something new.

(v1)
I had a corner office on the twenty-third floor
Of the second-tallest building in Baltimore.
Watching the world go by,
Dollar signs in my eyes.
I had a red Ferrari and a credit card,
A real Rodin out in my back yard.
Picasso on the wall,
I thought I had it all.

(ch)
I spent half of my life trying to get to the top,
The other half tryin' to make the little voice stop,
Little voice sayin' it's wrong doin' what I do.
Years spent storing up treasures on earth,
Years more wondering what it's all worth;
This day forward I'm gonna try something new.

(v2)
Well, I don't know how I got turned around;
Started slipping up, started slipping down.
Nightly drinking bouts,
Tryin' to tune my conscience out.
My wife moved on and she took my wheels,
I lost the Picasso in a business deal.
A cripple on a bourbon crutch -
'Til I finally had too much.


(lift)
So late last night I fell on my knees,
Said, "God, if you're really there,
You can see what a mess I've made out of me -
Is there any hope for me anywhere?"

(chorus)
'Cause I've spent half of my life trying to get to the top,
The other half tryin' to make the little voice stop,
Little voice sayin' it's wrong doin' what I do.
Years spent storing up treasures on earth,
Years more wondering what it's all worth;
This day forward I'm gonna try something new.