To Rise You Gotta Fall

I've been sitting on a porch this
morning, just strumming and a-smoking green
Thinking about the highs and lows between now and when I was eighteen
When you walk into the garden gate,
you're bound to get bitten by a snake
You don't know love without a little heartache

How can you know good until you know better
If you're looking for love, get ready to get her
You can't win no more and to rise you gotta fall

So I went down to Salinas, to find work and to clear my head
Got a job as a hired hand when the harvest time came in
But the dirt went dust and the crops dried up
If you don't get to market there's no pay-out
Yes you don't praise the rain until you've had a drought

How can you know good until you know better
You're gonna have pain on your way to pleasure
And it's the bumpy roads that lead you where you need to go
Bring you home

So I've been looking for some perspective
So I knocked on my momma's door
My heart was filled with sorrow
And I collapsed right there on the floor
She said, girl, you best not cry any longer
Life is cruel and just gets harder
But what doesn't kill you makes your story longer

How can you know good until you know better
If you're looking for love, get ready to get her
Oh, life's a hurricane
But the magic's what remains
Can't make a rainbow without a little rain

Oh how can you know good until you know better
Tell me, if I knew what I know now, I'd write you a letter
You can't win no more, and to rise you gotta fall
To rise you gotta fall
To rise you gotta fall