words and music by john kay i was raised in the ruins mama till i was thirteen every day i heard the radio every night i had the same old dream to sing a song oh baby to watch my name in lights if you wanna see your dream come true honeychild you gotta get right down and fight well i sailed cross the ocean girl i felt so all alone many times i thought about goin right back home but the joy i found in song gave me the will to carry on live your life the way you want to don t let fools lead you astray live you dreams so you hold on to all you need along the way i was payin my dues right here in the land of the free all the time i learned to sing along i could not speak and i could barely see still all the while i knew where i was at but the people that believed in me lord i could count them all in seconds flat well someday i would be i knew it all along a gentleman of leisure girl right or wrong and though my dream has come and gone there s plenty more where those came from repeat chorus 1977 rambunctious music 