Onstage at the Orpheum   Waiting for a diploma   Looking out at my classmates   Ready to disown them   My bags were packed   I was ready to leave   For university   I was moving up and out   Out of Omaha   Oh, it didn't last      One night I was drinking alone   So I drove out to Denver   To visit an old friend   Who had settled down there   I kept on driving all through the night   And threw up in dawn's early light   Sick on caffeine pills   My friend, he escaped from Omaha   Oh, I never will      Oh, I had a lover once   She was a nomad   Would have followed her anywhere   So we moved out to Portland   She was selling baggage   I bought all I could   And that was all it took   To make my escape   Oh, Omaha, oh, you never looked so good      I am leaving   I'm sailing away   My time in Iowa   Was just a holiday   I've got to get back over that bridge   To the town where I live   I guess that's where I'll stay   Oh, Omaha, oh, Omaha