Led Zeppelin - that’s the way

이 노래는 관계의 변화를 겪으며 겪는 아픔과 그로 인해 느끼는 고독, 그리고 삶과 죽음의 순환을 성찰하는 내용을 담고 있다
화자는 친구와의 거리감을 느끼고 그로 인해 상실감을 겪으며, 결국 모든 것이 허망하다는 결론에 다다른다
마지막으로, 진실을 다시 바라볼 필요성을 강조하며 곤경에 처한 자신을 돌아본다

I don't know how I'm gonna tell you
I can't play with you no more
I don't know how I'm gonna do what mama told me
My friend, the boy next door
I can't believe what people sayin'
You're gonna let your hair hang down
I'm satisfied to sit here working all day long
You're in the darker side of town
And when I'm out I see you walking
Why don't your eyes see me?
Could it be you've found another game to play?
What did mama say to me?
That's the way, oh, that's the way it ought to be
Yeah, yeah
Mama say that's the way it ought to stay
Yeah, yeah
And yesterday I saw you standing by the river
And weren't those tears that filled your eyes?
And all the fish that lay in dirty water dyin'
Had they got you hypnotized?
And yesterday I saw you kissing tiny flowers
But all that lives is born to die
And so I say to you that nothing really matters
And all you do is stand and cry
I don't know what to say about it
When all your ears have turned away
But now's the time to look and look again at what you see
Is that the way it ought to stay?