Time Trades - Jeffrey Lewis

Time is gonna take so much away

But there’s a way that time can offer you a trade

Time is gonna take so much away

But there’s a way that time can offer you a trade

You gotta do something that you can get nicer at

You gotta do something that you can get wiser at

You better do something that you can get better at

'cause that’s the only thing that time will leave you with

'Cause time is gonna take so much away

But there’s a way that time can offer you a trade

It might be cabaret

It could be poetry

It might be trying to make a new happy family

It could be violin repair or chemistry

But if it’s something that takes a lot of time that’s good

'Cause time is gonna take so much away

But there’s a way that time can offer you a trade

Because your looks are gonna leave you

And your cities gonna change too

And your shoes are gonna wear through

Yeah, time is gonna take so much away

But there’s a way that you can offer time a trade

You gotta do something that you can get smarter at

You gotta do something that you might just be a starter at

You better do something that you can get better at

'Cause that’s the thing that time will leave you with

And maybe that’s why they call a trade a trade

Like when they say that you should go and learn a trade

The thing you do don’t have to be to learn a trade

Just get something back from time for all it takes away

It could be many things

It could be anything

It could be expertise in Middle-Eastern travelling

Something to slowely sure to balance lifes unravelling

You have no choice you have to pay times price

But you can use the price to buy you something nice

Something you can only buy with lots of time

So when you’re old, which you will, some whippersnappers mind

It might be researching a book that takes you seven years

A book that helps to make the path we take to freedom clear

And when you’re done you see it started with a good idea

One good idea could cost you thousands of your days

But it’s just time you’d be spending anyways

You have no choice, you have to pay times price

But you can use the price to buy you something nice

So I’ve decided recently

To try to trade more decently