Lyrics

When I first took myself down to the sea
I asked myself, I asked myself
As we pulled out of port
I asked myself, asked myself
As we looked back to the shore:
Could it be, is this the life for me?

I saw the circus before it went
I got lost in thoughts by the candy floss
And the fortune teller's tent
I stepped through the crack, he was wearing black
And I asked with grave intent:
Can you see what this life holds for me?

He looked into his crystal ball
There a picture grew, it was back when you
First cast your magic spell
It was burning red when he turned his head
And he closed his eyes to tell:
Could there be a life for you and me?

Then somehow you came into the room
I put on my coat and put out my smoke
And put up some kind of fight
You put down your hair and pulled up a chair
And your eyes were shining bright
Can't you see, you were big as life to me?

Now not all that many years ago
When I was a boy back in Illinois
You know I had these feelings then
And though I traveled far, and paddled hard
They live in me again:
Could it be, is this the life for me?

When I next took myself down to the sea
I walked the coast and I talked to ghosts
Near a broke-down Spanish fort
Then I climbed inside and I testified
Before a most angelic court
The pounding sea, it spoke that day to me
Can't you see, you're big as life to me?