Once I Was a Lady Lyrics

once I was a lady dressed in black and blue
I used to walk the boulevard because that's what ladies do
my nails were always polished, my secrets always hid
I just did whatever it was that all the other ladies did
at nighttime around my bedside I keep a million lights
one for every soldier who fought the war and died
for my husband is a landlord whose eyes are full of greed
and his army full of young men whom he never even sees

but now I am somebody else with golden books upon my shelves and diamonds on my mind
strolling through the woods at night to find the little bits of light others leave behind

once I was a soldier in the army of some lord
I have never even seen him, I just got paid to hold his sword
I kept my armour shiny and I kept my secrets hid
and whatever I was told to do, that is what I did
when I think about it now it's hard for me to say
whether I had a choice in life to do the things my way
because by the time I heard about that lady's bedside state
I had already gone far too far, it was already too late

but now I am somebody else with golden books upon my shelves and diamonds on my mind
strolling through the woods at night to find the little bits of light others leave behind
once I was a student, I had to pick up my degree
and I thought about the years gone by, the years that numbered three
how things that had seemed important turned out to be a joke
and things that had seemed natural had all gone up in smoke

earlier a crowd had come to see me win my prize
I felt like I deserved it, it was justice in my eyes
but the only thing that I could think was 'what am I gonna do?
when all of this is over, when my days of hope are through?'

but now I am somebody else with golden books upon my shelves and diamonds on my mind
strolling through the woods at night to find the little bits of light others leave behind