In the year of '55 when I was born a child
I felt the Lord settle on my shoulder
Now through those childish days
He would guide my guideless ways
For I was young and I was sober

And in the year of '65, a troubled life and troubled times
And the Lord, was standin' at my shoulder
And I wished that life was other but that I could be another
But I was me and I was young and sober

And in the year of '75 is when I sang myself alive
And the Lord sat whistling on my shoulder
So I stood up and I sang, and that's when my life began
And I was young and sober

And in the year of '85 we watched the millions starve and die
And the Lord, perched like the vulture on my shoulder
So we sent some bread and water, tried our best to stop the slaughter
And we were young and sober

But in the year of '95, I loved my faithless wife
And the devil must have muttered on her shoulder
So she left me for another, whom I'd once had thought my brother
And I grew drunk and older

Said in the year of '05 with a beautiful new wife
And the Lord, just sat there smiling on her shoulders
So we drank from lifers cup, watched the children growin' up
'Cause she had made me once again young and sober

For I was young and sober