First You Lose the Rhyming

First you lose the rhyming
Then you lose the timing
Then you lose the money
Then you lose the friends
And you try for one more song
But the words don't come and the chords are wrong
Whisky bottle won't last long before it ends

I met him in a barroom in Chicago
I was writing what became of those we knew
About the ones who'd let their shooting star go out of sight
The one-hit-wonder boys who never grew

And I asked him, "Sir, what happened then to you?"
And he said

First you lose the rhyming
Then you lose the timing
Then you lose the money
Then you lose the friends
And you try for one more song
But the words don't come and the chords are wrong
Whisky bottle won't last long before it ends

He told me it's an old and tired story
You'll need a way to make it sound brand new
So tell them that I had my share of glory once all right
But I had somebody strong to see me through

And she told me all the things I shouldn't do
She said

First you lose the rhyming
Then you lose the timing
Then you lose the money
Then you lose the friends
And you try for one more song
But the words don't come and the chords are wrong
Whisky bottle won't last long before it ends

But I did all a young man does with money
With all those young girls coming on so strong
And that's how come I lost my little honey to the road
'Cause she went off and wrote it in a song

And now you see her up there on the TV
She's a superstar and everybody knows
She sings a broken heart just like it should be sung each night
And I never miss a second of her shows
And I know the way the chorus always goes

First you lose the rhyming
Then you lose the timing
Then you lose the money
Then you lose the friends
And you try for one more song
But the words don't come
And the chords are wrong
Whisky bottle won't last long before it ends

Yes, you try for one more song
Words don't come and the chords are wrong
Whisky bottle won't last long before it ends