Lyrics:

This is a character sketch, and it’s loaded with short, sharp phrases that provide great mental images. He’s a man whose reached middle age and lost his idealism and his passion for life.
Aunt Clara kept her Bible right next to the phone
In case she needed a quote while she talked to someone
In my memory she smiles while the blessing is said
And visions of freeze tag dance in my head
She says I’ll grow up big if I eat all my roast
I’ll still believe in heaven, but I won’t believe in ghosts anymore

I’ll put away childish things
I’ll put away childish things

Every other weekend, age o' thirteen
With my fishing pole and my Field and Stream
Ridin' back home on the Trailways bus
I looked out the window ’til I saw too much
And I called my parents by their own first names
I played in the alley, but I didn’t play the game anymore

I’ll put away childish things
I’ll put away childish things


The wolves howl all night long
They won’t stop and they won’t go home
Beneath my window they run
Probably it’ll be alright
If I keep it all locked up tight
And wait ‘til daylight comes


Now my boy goes like a house on fire
He’ll never burn out and he’ll never retire
And I remember when I used to think like that
When I was young and the world was flat
But I’m forty-some years old now and man, I don’t care
All I want now is just a comfortable chair
And to sell all my stock and live on the coast
I don’t believe in heaven, but I still believe in ghosts

I’ve put away childish things
I’ve put away childish things
I’ve put away childish things
I’ve put away childish things

The wolves howl all night long
They won’t stop and they won’t go home
Beneath my window they run
Probably it’ll be alright
If I keep it all locked up tight
And wait ‘til daylight comes
If I wait ‘til daylight comes