Bill Anderson Lyrics
"And Then Came the Bad Years"

(Steve Karliski)

I remember how once upon a time
Before I could even phone you I had to borrow a dime
I had nothing to give you
And still you said you'd be mine
Lord, these were the good years.

A big night on the town for us used to be
Just two glasses of wine on our first anniversary
Oh, I know you could have more but you stuck by me
Those were the sweet years.

But I wasn't happy though you never complained
I wanted to give you more than just my name
I wanted to buy you not wine but champagne
And then came the hard years.

'Cause I started working harder and longer than ever before
Just to buy you all the things that you never even asked me for
And I never noticed but you changed more and more
Those were the sad years.

But the price of success just kept goin' up
And even when I had it all I didn't want to stop
For some reason it became important to me to stay on the top
Those were the selfish years.

And then I stopped one minute of my busy day
I felt like something was missing and what I couldn't say
And when I realized that it was love that had died away
And then came the bad years.

(Then came the bad years.)...