When I was a young man, I had to kick and scratch and claw
Now it's like top gun in the Old West, everybody wants me to draw
If I had known it would be like this I might have given it a second thought
But if someone had told me to give it up, it's a line that I wouldn't have bought

Look at me
I'm the great white hope
Can't you see
I'm up against the ropes
Don't you know
It's so hard to cope
When you feel
Like the great white hope

Now you've paid your money you're sitting in your ringside seat
And I know that some of you out there, might wanna see the champ get beat
If I had known it would be like this I might have given it a second thought
But real life sure isn't like school, there's some lessons that just can't be taught

Look at me
I'm the great white hope
Can't you see
I'm up against the ropes
Don't you know
It's so hard to cope
When you feel
Like the great white hope



Interpretation

The life of the N1 contender in boxing is used as an analogy for what it's like to be in the spotlight with everyone trying to shoot you down, making you question whether fame and fortune is really worth all the trouble that comes with it.

Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Eight, Skate, Seven on the Rotate!

If I could stand
Beside myself
Would I see me or maybe someone else
'Cause it's hard to please
Most everyone
When your spirit's got you on the run, on the run

They say do your best
But don't cause a fuss
Don't make waves be like the rest of us
But I can feel the tide is turning fast
'Cause deep inside I know that I can't last
Another day
Not another day!

'Cause I'm O.K.
I finally found the person I've been searching for
I'm alright
I'm feeling good about myself and that's for sure

'Cause I believed them when they said I must do things their way,
They tried to cast me in their mold
But I just had to say,
That I'm O.K.
I'm O.K. this way yes I'm O.K. Yes I'm OK!

I'm O.K.
I finally found the person I've been searching for (everybody sing now!)
I'm alright
I'm feeling good about myself and that's for sure (whoo!)

I'm O.K.
I finally found the person I've been searching for (yahoo!)
I'm alright
I'm feeling good about myself and that's for sure
I'm O.K.
I'm feeling good about myself and that's for sure
I'm alright
I'm O.K. this way yes I'm OK!



Interpretation

Be yourself, whoever that may be. Don't try to live up to others' expectations.

In the quest for finding backmasking and backwards messages on rock and roll songs, Styx was singled out for a supposed backmask on Snowblind in 1981, prompting the anti-censorship theme of the following album, Kilroy Was Here. Critics searched other Styx songs for supposed backmasking, and some claimed to find an example in I'm OK. Supposedly the line "I finally found the person I've been searching for. Everybody sing now!" played backwards sounds like "I'm your servant! We shall stick by the serpent of the Alpha." You be the judge.

Hannah you're with me in spirit wherever I go
To the ends of the earth and all points between high and low
Each night by the stage you appear as you are
The ever intangible child
Ageless and timeless as Dorian Grey
Oh Hannah I know that it's you and you're leading me on

Hannah you're my inspiration my fountain of youth
And as your surrogate leader I'm bound in your searach for the truth
And yes how the truth rushes out
When it's become honestly clear
I see your anxious and curious eyes
But Hannah I need you as much as you think you need me
Come to your window tonight and we'll fly to your dreams
And we'll

Sing for the day sing for the moment
Sing for the time of your life
Come for an hour stay for a moment
Stay for the rest of your life

Hannah don't fail me I need you like never before
Father time's at my back on my heels
Behind every door (and he says)
Son when the youth has but gone from your face
Will she let you grow older with grace?
Or will she give you up for one younger than you?
Oh Hannah please tell me the things that he says are untrue
Hannah I'm honestly hoping you'll always be there

Sing for the day sing for the moment
Sing for the time of your life
Come for an hour stay for a moment
Stay for the rest of your life



Interpretation

Hannah is an analogy for the fans and how much they mean to Tommy and the rest of Styx. (Tommy's daughter, Hannah Shaw, was born later and named in tribute.)

Instrumental

All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To the magic and mystery they bring
To the music in their story

All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To the magic and mystery they bring
To the lands of ancient glory

In the year of the Lords
The message came from above
The heavens opened with their mighty sound
That shook the people in the town

And so we came from everywhere
The young and old the rich and poor
To hear the legend of the magic ring
And of the powers it could bring, they sing

All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To the magic and mystery they bring
To the music in their story
All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To the magic and mystery it brings
May we someday wear its glory

And now the message is clear
For I became a Lord this year
And though the legend was pure fantasy
We still need the hope it brings, so let's sing

All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To believe is a wonderous thing
May we always sing their glory

All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To the magic and mystery they bring
To the promise of their story



Interpretation

Hope is a powerful thing, and sometimes hope is all we have.

Give me a job, give me security
Give me a chance to survive
I'm just a poor soul in the unemployment line
My God, I'm hardly alive
My mother and father, my wife and my friends
I see them laugh in my face
But I've got the power, and I've got the will
I'm not a charity case

I'll take those long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my eye to the keyhole
If it takes all that to be just what I am
I'm gonna be a blue collar man

Make me an offer that I can't refuse
Make me respectable, man
This is my last time in the unemployment line
So like it or not I'll take those

Long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my back to the wall
If it takes all that to be just what I am
I'm gonna be a blue collar man

Keeping my mind on a better life
When happiness is only a heartbeat away
Paradise, can it be all I heard it was
I close my eyes and maybe I'm already there



Interpretation

Here's what Dennis said during a January 14, 1991 interview with In The Studio:

...Not to miss the lyrical content of "Blue Collar Man" which is really terrific, about being unemployed at a time when unemployment was really becoming a critical issue in this country. Tommy was living at the time in Niles, Michigan, which was feeling the pinch - that whole quarter there from South Chicago up into Gary and Hammond where there was a lot of layoffs in the steel industry, a lot of layoffs in the auto industry, because he even had friends who were involved in the auto industry in Michigan...and so "Blue Collar Man" was not only a great rock tune, but it actually was saying something pretty interesting about needing a job to have an identity, which is what that song is, I think, truly about, insomuch as so many of us see our jobs as a definition as to who we are. When you take that away from us, it's more difficult for us to define who we are.

Day into night she's with me
How sweet is her warm embrace
Safe in the scent of jasmine
So safe in her gold and lace

Mornings I find, she's left me
So cold so alone, but aware
I try to escape, she finds me
Oh run though I may, she's there, there, there, there, there...

Luck is a lady whose smile is as cold as a stone
She'll bring you things, many things you might never have known
But when your die is cast she'll have the final laugh at you
She'll lock you in a duel, where you come out the fool

Beware of the Queen of Spades
Her black widow's curse might find you yet
Beware of a love that you will regret
Her love means only your death

Day into night she's with me
Turn of a card, she's there
The first time is free, you know
But from now on, pay me, me, me, me, me...

Beware of the Queen of Spades
Her black widow's curse might find you yet
Beware of a love that you will regret
Her love means only your death



Interpretation

Queen Of Spades is about a gambling addiction told using the analogy of a woman. However, the lyrics could easily apply to other forms of addiction.

Oh Mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Law man has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home
The jig is up, the news is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This'll be the end today
Of the wanted man

Oh Mama, I've been years on the lam and had a high price on my head
Lawman said 'Get him dead or alive' and it's for sure he'll see me dead
Dear Mama I can hear you cryin', you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is comin' down from the gallows and I don't have very long

The jig is up, the news is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
The judge'll have revenge today
On the wanted man

Oh Mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Law man has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home

The jig is up, the news is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This'll be the end today
Of the wanted man

It's six o'clock
Good morning sounds are everywhere
The warmth of spring, a gentle breeze blows through my hair

I hurry through my life never stopping to see
How beautiful it was meant to be

I'm just a prisoner in a king's disguise
Broken dreams as we shuffle by

It's six o'clock it's quitting time I'm done for the day
Out on the streets I overheard a lady say
We now have everything or so people say
But now this emptiness haunts me every day
We seek the lion's share never knowing why
Come alive spread your wings and fly

Pieces of eight
The search for the money tree
Don't cash your freedoms in for gold
Pieces of eight
Can't buy you everything
Don't let it turn your heart to stone



Interpretation

Money can't buy happiness. We live in a money-obsessed society, and too much money too fast can "turn your heart to stone" if you let it.

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