Borrowed Time

Borrowed Time
Written by Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw
Lead Vocals by Dennis DeYoung

Yeah yeah!
Don't look now, but here come the Eightees!

I was so cool back in Sixty-Five
I had it made 'cause I understood what to do to survive
I had my car, and I made the scene
Didn't give a damn about no gasoline
They can go to hell

My friend we never thought about the world
And its realities
The promised land was ours
We were the Great Society

I'm so confused by the things I read, I need the truth
But the truth is, I don't know who to believe
The left say yes, and the right says no
I'm in between and the more I learn
Well, the less that I know
I got to make a show

Livin' high, living fine
Livin' high on borrowed time

Yes! No!
Yes! No!
No! Yes!
No! Yes!

Faith be with me now
I'm just a dreamer in a dreamland
Faith be with me now
I'm just a dreamer in a dreamland

'Cause we're
Livin' high
Livin' fine (You know I'm livin' fine)
Livin' high (Yes I'm livin' high)
On borrowed time (On borrowed time)

Livin' high (Whoohoo!)
Livin' fine (Ahhh!)
Livin' high
On Lake Shore Drive (Midnight ride)

Livin' high (We're livin' high)
On Leslie Lane (Let's go back and play it again!)
Livin' high (We're livin' high)
On Red Bud Trail (On Red Bud, Red Bud Trail!)

Livin' high
On Central Drive (He's on Central Drive!)
Livin' high (We're livin', livin' high)
On Prestwick Drive (Catch me on Prestwick Drive!...)
Livin' high (...gettin' in and drivin' my Mercedes...)
Livin' fine (...up and down and up and down -- sh*t! I don't....)

Interpretation

Life is not as simple as it used to seem when we were younger and blind to the realities of the world around us. The world is a complicated place, and most things are too complex for a black and white view.

The Great Society was President Lyndon B. Johnson's vision of a poverty-free America, propped up by his ambitious social programs. They sounded good at the time, but the vision never came to pass.

The statement "the left says yes and the right says no" is representing the social permissiveness of the liberal left and the contrasting social conservatism of the conservative right. Where the left says no to unlimited gun rights and lower taxes,, the right says emphatically yes. Most Americans fall somewhere in between.

All we can do is make the most of our situation.  The band recognizes that fame and fortune can be fleeting, so they are living on borrowed time.

The streets listed at the end of the song are the streets where the members of Styx were living in Chicago at the time the song was written. Chuck Panozzo lived on Lake Shore Drive. John Panozzo lived on Leslie Lane. Tommy Shaw lived on Red Bud Trail. James Young lived on Central Drive. Dennis DeYoung lived on Prestwick Drive.