A Reason for It All

By Eric Bogle

On Scraps of Paper

Released on 1982

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Summer's smiling on the city, it's another lovely day in Sydney, sunshine pouring down like honey

But in the room where Clare is dying, no sunshine sends the shadows flying

No children gather round her crying, there's no one there at all

Except perhaps for the man who sees each little sparrow fall

Don't talk to me about lonely souls crying, dark quiet rooms with old people dying

I don't want to hear, I don't want to hear it at all

Tired old people die alone every day, don't blame me, I didn't make it that way

That's just how it is, don't look for a reason at all

Winter weeping on the city, a wet and windy day in Sydney

Rain drops rolling fat and heavy down Clare's window pane

The raindrops on the tin roof beating, disturbing rats as they are feeding

Back to the nest they all go creeping, leaving Clare alone again

It's been a long and lonely time since Clare could hear the rain

Don't talk to me about the meaning of life; don't sing your songs that cut like a knife

I don't want to hear, I don't want to hear it at all

Lonely old people ain't my concern, from dust we come

To dust we return and that's all there is, don't look for a reason in it all

Spring has come at last to Sydney; flowers are blooming in the city

In all their multicoloured glory, they rise to greet the year

Memories in chain recalling, footsteps on the front porch falling

Voices through the window calling, is anybody here

Clare Candle's lost and lonely soul is a long, long way from here

Don't talk to me about life's seasons, don't ask me for answers

Don't ask me for reasons. I don't want to hear, I don't want to hear it at all

From the moment we're born, we start to die; a man can go crazy if he keeps asking why

That's just how it is, don't look for a reason at all

Can't you understand what I'm trying to say, there must an answer;

There must be a way to make some sense of it, to try to find a reason for it all

We are not born just so we can die, there must be an answer and

We've got to try to make some sense of it; to try to find a reason for it all

Can't you understand what I'm trying to say, there must an answer;

There must be a way to make some sense of it, to try to find a reason for it all

We are not born just so we can die, there must be an answer and

We've got to try to make some sense of it; to try to find a reason for it all

That's just how it is, don't look for a reason at all

Ah, there must a way, there must be reason for it all