(Nanci Griffith)

Oh, I used to wish I was a hard line taker... and they'd say,
"Six to one a half dozen'll break her",
'till I fell in love with a young man who sang the blues
Oh, bless my daddy, he warned me well
He'd whisper in my ear and say, "Now look out, gal...
There's always a ne'er do well gonna call you the fool"

[Chorus:]
He said, "you'll never learn to fish on a borrowed line
You'll never learn to write if you're walkin' 'round cryin'
And it's a pity that you're lover died young, but...
You'll never get tired of livin' alone".

So, now I dream of the lover that I don't know
It's safer this way 'cuz I don't have to go... oh, and he
Won't come... so nobody goes away
Sometimes I wish for the warmth of his hand
Take a look in these eyes and understand
I'm just a little too old to be a-learnin' the rules of the game

[Chorus]

Oh, maybe I could take him to Mexico
We'd kick our heels in the warm cloudy gulf
He'd sing a song about the weather in the Poconos;
This lover that I don't know
Then two hearts would pound 'stead of one in the night
I'd learn to fish with my own line
Catch my dream and hope that line would hold

[Chorus]

No, I never get tired of livin' alone
Sometimes my feet get cold... when I'm livin' alone...