A Love Outgrown

When I was Seventeen
I was chasing after dreams
In Southport
I had to get away
Or end up in a nursing home
Alone

When I was Seventeen
I had a special love
And Southport
Didn't seem a bad place
After all

On the promenade
The carnival facade
Is peeling
And the floral clock
Has stopped a moment
Caught in time
Such a sad decay
Well, it's something like the way
I'm feeling

For such a dream so big
Southport seemed a little bit
Too small
And I was still naive
I really did believe
In magic
That I had found a love
And treasured it above
All else

But then I looked beyond
Saw another life
Was waiting
I was chasing dreams
I had to find them by
Myself

I hope you understand
Such a love could never be
The sea has turned my soul
And it aches to be free

I will always think of
Southport at the fair
Summer on the beach
The fun that we had there
With Southport in my mind
But Las Vegas in my heart
I set out to search for the stars
But every dream I dream
Follows where you've been
And it's tearing my heart apart

When I was Seventeen
I left to find my dream
From Southport
January came
I blame myself for our
Goodbyes

Nothing is so sad
As the seaside out
Of season
Nothing is so sad
As you and I

When I was Seventeen
I was chasing after dreams
In Southport
I had to get away
Or end up in a nursing home
Alone

And now it seems
I'd never been
A boy of seventeen
In Southport

It didn't last

A lifetime passed
A love outgrown

Was it all a dream?
Or was it all for real?
I'm standing on the pier

I'm trying not to feel
The tears are in my eyes
Your face is in the sand
I'm trying to look down
I'm reaching out my hand
I'm falling to the wind
I'm waiting for the sea
But the sea is never in
It's never in for me
In Southport