Her Mama cussed she was out of film   As her baby came down those stairs looking right at her boyfriend   His hands, they shook as he pinned on her corsage   And she almost cried 'cause she'd liked this guy from the very start      Should've been just another first and not the last   The beautiful moment in two lives   When they looked back but now they're      Flowers by the side of the road yeah, that's all that's left   Of the hopes and dreams of two seventeen year-olds   Some dreams live on and some, they don't   But all that's left to know, all that's left to show   Are flowers by the side of the road      Could've been me, could've been you   How many times have I said I've just had one or two   It's a sobering thought, it's a sobering sight   How like a bad, bad dream you can lose everything      On a careless night, be the one who lives   Be the one who's gone be the mother whose heart   Has to somehow go on she'll leave      Flowers by the side of the road yeah, that's all that's left   Of the hopes and dreams of two seventeen year-olds   Some dreams live on and some, they don't   All that's left to know, all that's left to show   Are flowers by the side of the road, flowers by the side of the road      It could've been me, it could've been you