The Who - cry if you want

노래는 젊은 시절의 순수한 감정과 크고 당시의 비극적인 사고 방식이 시간이 지나면서 겪게 되는 부끄러움과 고뇌에 대해 이야기한다
과거의 이상과 현실의 괴리감, 사랑에 대한 아쉬움이 주된 주제로, 진정한 자신을 찾아가는 과정을 서술한다
결국, 삶의 경제적 현실과 감정적 갈등이 얽혀 있음을 표현하고 있다

Once it was just innocence
Brash ideas and insolence
But you will never get away
With the things you say today
But you can cry if you want
Don't you get embarrassed when you read the precious things you said
Many many years ago when life appeared a rosy red
No one ever shared your bed
Nothing ever filled your head
Except yourself and little Ted
And scary dreams that you were dead
Don't you want to hide your face
When going through your teenage books
And read the kind of crap you wrote
About "Ban the Bomb" and city crooks
Think about how long it took
To get over that sudden "Yuk"
When in the mirror you would look
Well now my son you are well in stook
Cry if you want
Didn't you wrath in anger when you saw the man in his big car
Didn't you drive a banger and a gallon didn't get you far
Should have been a famous star
But that ain't what you really are
You could shout your last hurrah
While they are propping up the bar
Maybe things were better then
Before you led a promised life
Rash commitments and heavy raps and left wing spiel all compromised
You fall in love with other's wives
Drive 'em nuts with empty lies
Angry 'cause you lost the prize
Forgot the color of their eyes