I tried to die young which made me prematurely old   I made sure to overindulge in sex and drugs and rock and roll   But the sex produced a child, the drugs only worked for a little while   And rock and roll got boring on the night the audience stayed at home      I tried to die young which made up which made up ten miles of bad road   Which leads to a nice place to visit if you don't run into anyone you know   Because we all know how people talk, you southern belles just can't refrain from flapping your jaws   The rumors still abound about the nights when I was trying to die young      But I've only now realized that there's nothing wrong with stacking up the years and getting on   It's as if we say survivors don't belong   There's nothing worse than carrying on when there's nothing left to carry at all      I tried to die young, I couldn't live past twenty-seven   I couldn't leave a good lookin' corpse just yet   I hadn't left enough behind to live on   My next work will always be my best   The next record will always be my last   Hell, this could be the last time any of you ever see me alive      But I've only now realized that there's nothing wrong with stacking up the years and getting on   It's as if we say survivors don't belong   There's nothing worse than carrying on when there's nothing left to carry at all