The fire burns on and on 

That drives me on till all is gone 

Except the simple plans 

Of mice and men 



Back when I was just seventeen 

I thought that I knew everything 

I could make it in this scene 

To be a rising star that only gleamed 

But all the answers disagreed 

With the questions held for me 



I was legal now at twenty-one 

I knew the world should run 

My God just look what I had done 

Simply drunk and having fun 

Looked for friends, but I found none 

All alone at twenty-one 



The fire burns on and on 

That drives me on till all is gone 

Except the simple plans 

Of mice and men 



At twenty-five I was surprised 

That I was even half-alive 

Somehow I managed to survive 

I felt my body doing time 

And in my back a hundred knives 

From my friends at twenty-five 



And now as Gabriel sounds my warning bell 

I'd buy your life, if you would sell 

A year or two if less compelled 

So live your life and live it well 

There's not much left of me to tell 

I just got back up each time I fell 



The fire burns on and on 

That drives me on till all is gone 

Except the simple plans 

Of mice and men 



The fire burns on and on 

That drives me on till all is gone 

Except the simple plans 

Of mice and men