Twenty

I used to write more poetry when I was younger but now I mostly write songs instead. Don't let me fool you into thinking that I am any good on the guitar or at singing, but I feel like playing the guitar has been my one real hobby for the last few months, and I have been writing more songs lately. I thought of posting one here that I really like and maybe some more will come in the future.

My birthday was last week but I started writing this song a few weeks before it. It's been a weird time for me, and mostly I just try not to think about how old I am this year and what it means for me. I'm not very good at writing the lyrics either (basically just assume I am very bad at all aspects of music) so they're not exactly the most poetic but I feel like I summed up how I feel about this birthday in some basic lines along a basic chord progression.

(no capo)

A G D A

Verse 1:

    A           G

I’ve been thinking about the past lately

              D A

'cause next week I turn twenty.

A G

    I don't think but know I'm not ready,

           Em           A

I guess my years haven't been that many.

Verse 2:

      A     G

The cycle just repeats itself

        D       A

and I can’t get my foot in through the door.

A   G

I feel like I'm stuck in the same place I was

             Em D

and I just cant be older than before.

Chorus:

      A         G

What happened to getting older? 

          D A

and how are people becoming colder?

A G

Think I missed a lesson in maturing 

      D A

and it’s not the alcohol talking.

Verse 3:

A G

Tripping over a costume that’s too big,

D     A

role listed on my birth certificate.

A G

I just feel like a full time teenager,

Em A

part time at the grown up theatre.

Verse 4:

A G

Whatever happened to: “You’re too young for this”?

D       A

Just got annoyed but wish I felt a sense of bliss.

A             G

How do you reconcile safety and boredom? 

Em D

And how do you hold down vodka, gin, or rum?

Chorus:

      A         G

What happened to getting older? 

          D A

And how are people becoming colder?

A G

Think I missed a lesson in maturing 

      D A

and it’s not the alcohol talking.

Outro:

              A G

Now the wax is dripping down like the tears on my face

  Em

and the days from my life

  D

and the potential that I held.

    A       G

I have to blow out the candles before it’s too late,

  Em

I have to keep up,

    Bm D A

I have to figure out how to be twenty years old.

A