Electric chair didn't burn a hair   And the newspaperman asked why   And while the warden explain in great detail   The newsman looked in the sky      "I'm sure", he said   "If you look a little deeper for something in his life   We could understand the reason why   He reached out for a knife"      Ooh, what happened to the promise?   Ooh, what happened to the one we knew?      So, onto a a train the newspaperman rode   Down to the southern lands   To find out about a child long gone   Turned into a lightning man      Ooh, what happened to the promise?   Ooh, what happened to the one we knew?   Ooh, what happened to the promise?   Ooh, what happened to the heart so true      "Some of them make it through", she said   "Some of them never do and one of them   Got lost in time, that child of mine   Oh, I loved that child of mine"      Arriving in a country town   With a notepad in his hand   He spoke to the mother and the father   And a friend and a teacher and a preacher man      They all recalled a regular boy chewing gum   And playing in the sand   Nothing could explain how he became   A lonely lightning man      And when the coffin came   On the southbound train   And the old folks shuffled by   The one they came to bury   Was not very heavy, just a child lost in time      Ooh, what happened to the promise?   Ooh, what happened to the one we knew?   Ooh, what happened to the promise?   Ooh, what happened to the heart so true      What happens to the clear blue eye   When it enters the forest?   Does anybody know where the little one goes?   What happens to the child in time?      Some of them make it through   Some of them never do   Some of them are lost and saved   Some of them find their way      Ooh, hold on to the promise   We're going to make it through my baby   We're going to make it through, my little darling