those were the days of Elaine, that was the phrase that she used to describe
to her son, of the fun, she had had
long before he went away, long before days of the dull and the dregs
and the lull and the call never came
they say, oh oh oh oh oh
[verse]
loitering lavendar park, laying about in the day and the dark
of a room while the noon passes by
always on verge of collapse, mother would quit and then suffer a lapse
from the drink you would think she was dead
but they say, oh oh oh oh oh
she says, oh oh oh oh oh
and the time that it takes
well it goes so slow
and she laid on the brakes
and she dove below
doesn t it go so slow
when you build it up to tear it down
you re tearin down
you tear it down
those were the days
those were the days of Elaine
the days of Elaine
the days of Elaine
[verse]
a lover like Alan Gulan, she followed him blind from saloon to salon
from the hills to the pills he would take
father died in the mines, brother showed no remorse for his times
when they strung him up
he got all hung up on the scaffolding
but he says, oh oh oh oh oh
he says, oh oh oh oh oh
[chorus]
and the time that it takes
well it goes so slow
and she laid on the brakes
and she dove below
doesn t it go so slow
when you build it up to tear it down
you re tearin down
you tear it down
those were the days
those were the days of Elaine
the days of Elaine
the days of Elaine