Lyrics The Real Trick - Ray Wylie Hubbard

Christopher turned 16 on a chemical dependency wing
And on family week his momma come up and she says
I ain't gonna stay for this whole thing
She says I've got more important things to do than to listen
To this ungrateful son
Chris said if being a parent so
Tough how come just anybody can be one?

Sweet Melissa she turned her first trick at seventeen
For some backstreet passes and some hashish in the back of a limosine
Now she's seen it all and she don't want to be here or even anywhere
And at 22 she's got what the boys at the VA call the 1000 yard stare

(Chorus) Ah but the real trick is to
Find a reason to believe in spite of all this
And the big secret is what you're lookin' for you're lookin' with

Miss Helen Petty she lost her husband of 42 years
Now she don't know what to do with
Herself and she just can't seem to stop the tears
And she can't sleep at night and she is so affraid and so alone
There are these bastards who take
Advantage of these precious desparate souls

Like there is this man on Sunday morning
On TV who jumps around and screams and shouts
And he says to get me in to Heaven is the only thing that he is about
But to get there I've got to believe what he believes
Well if that's the case I believe I'll
Take my chances when it's time for me to leave

(Chorus) Ah but the real trick is to
Find a reason to believe in spite of all this
And the big secret is what you're lookin' for you're lookin' with

We are all lengthening shadows cast by a sinking sun
So we need to find this reason to believe in something
Or someone; but it is hard to believe with just faith alone
We feel betrayed by life when the infidelity is our own

I don't concern my self with how Jesus
Was born or if he was raised from the dead
It just comes down to the things that he said
So many more than Judas have betrayed his name
And this beautiful ancient wisdom
Has been prostituted for personal gain

(Chorus) Ah but the real trick is to
Find a reason to believe in spite of all this
And the big secret is what you're lookin' for you're lookin' with