Stephin Merritt - '73: It Could Have Been Paradise lyrics

We lived in Paia Hippie central, I could hop to the beach Sometimes we would hitchhike Miles to school, school being a figure of speech Where we sang (kahuli aku, kahuli mai) We lived on a zendo In the forest, silence for days on end Caught up on my reading Huckleberry Finn was my only friend It could have been paradise But for the horrible bugs I could have gone to a real school But for the murderous thugs In the forest of paradise We gathered magic mushrooms But mostly I sat around In rooms as quiet as tombs It was heaven My mother took up with A trumpeter, red beard and pork pie hat Found a lyric of mine He took it home and set music to that To impress my mother He stole my song. Better back off, mister Fast forward two decades Same thing happened but with Shakespeare's sister Why should it be paradise? That's just a place people go It was home for a little while But you can give me the snow Give me the snow My friend Shell was named for A shell on the beach. She spoke pidgin English Everyday I swam out Onto the reef, catching exotic fish It could have been paradise With one good reason to stay If it had been paradise Guess we'd still be there today Singing away