Billy said, when he was seventeen
There ain't nothin' left here for me now
A small town boy with American dreams
He was California bound
He said, "I'm gonna make it
Damned if I don't try
You know I just won't take it
This life won't pass me by"

Billy grew into a blue-eyed and handsome man
The road, it left him hard and lean
He lost his heart to a southern girl
She made him feel just like James Dean
And her name was Rita
She said her love was deep
Billy bought her promises
She could never keep

Strangers in paradise, long and lonely nights
Never had a dream come true
Strangers in paradise, long and lonely nights
Searched their whole lives through

Billy rode those highway lines
'Til they one day brought him home
He took a job and he took a wife
And he worked real hard for things of his own

He said, "I'm gonna make it
Damned if I don't try
You know I just won't take it
This life won't pass me by"

Strangers in paradise, long and lonely nights
Never had a dream come true
Strangers in paradise, long and lonely nights
Searched their whole lives through
Strangers in paradise, long and lonely nights
Never had a dream come true
Strangers in paradise, long and lonely nights
Searched their whole lives through
Strangers in paradise, long and lonely nights
Never had a dream come true
Strangers in paradise