Happy Days

Seen with one eye open
There's a world that is full of light
It's brilliant and shining in color and black and white
But as I look ahead now
All is seen through a lens of fear
My focus is narrow, my vision is so unclear

And I've grown colder
Each year I've grown older
And there's no sign of slowing down or changing my ways
And I'm always with my camera
But I'm never in the frame
And my life is full of other people's happy days

In the dappled sunshine
In the fields of yellow-green
You look the loveliest that I have ever seen
And on the darkest stages
Where a single light shines down
The whole room starts smiling whenever you make a sound

And I'll stand before you
As they adore you
And I'll save that for you, this moment of joy and of grace
And I'm right in front of everyone, but you'll never see my face
And my life is full of other people's happy days

And my life has a color cast
The lighting is all wrong
I feel just like a polaroid
That someone shook too long
And every moment, every day's
Composed and framed just so
And I perfect my life away
With nothing much to show

Stacks of pictures on the floor
Ones you'll hang in your living room by the door
And they'll tell the story of the way that your life unfurled
I'll deliver them to you in a neat little package of happy proof
That you've been here and you've done this
And you'll live on in this little world

But I'll watch as time flies
I'll stand on sidelines
And I'll find these goldmines
But I'll give them away
And you'll take them in your open arms
And you'll put 'em on display
And I'll live my life through other people's happy days
Happy days
Happy days
Happy days