Lyrics to Skinny Boy - Decade Lyrics

This version of Skinny Boy was released by Chicago in 1974.

Our About Chicago page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Skinny Boy from 1974 as well as all of the other lyrics from Chicago that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Chicago or about the 1970s in general.

Ow
Yeah, yeah
When I was a young skinny boy
My momma said to me
The world out there is hot and dirty
Mean as it wants to be
I know there’s gonna be times when you’re down and out
So listen now kid
Listen now son
I’ll tell you what it’s all about
You gotta try to keep your head above the water
That’s what my momma told me
You gotta try to keep a step ahead of time
And even though you do some things you shouldn’t ought to
Shouldn’t ought to
If you love your brothers love will come back to you
Love’ll come back to you
Love’ll come back to you
Love’ll come back to you
Live my life in so many ways
To find out who I am
Time’s approaching
I really can say
Truly I understand
Got more livin’ to do for myself
So run along now
Play along later
Stay up by the shelf
Sing it girls
Gotta try to keep your head above the water
Yes you do yes I do
You gotta try to keep a step ahead of time
Even though you do some things you shouldn’t ought to
If you love your sisters love will come back to you
Love’ll come back to you
Love’ll come back to you
All the world is turnin’ to stone
Slowly it will die
But that is something I never will see
I don’t know why
Tryin’ to take the world the best I can
Might be now
Probably be later
Stand up like a man
hey, hey
Gotta try to keep your head above the water
Yes you do yes you do yes you do
Gotta try to keep a step ahead of time
Even though you do some things you shouldn’t ought to
Love your brothers and sisters, love’ll come back to you
Love’ll come back to you
Love’ll come back to you

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Chicago has released many songs over the years besides Skinny Boy. Chicago released songs from 1969 to 2006 spanning across albums like The Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago (Chicago II), Chicago III, Chicago V, Chicago VI, Chicago VII, Chicago VIII, Chicago X, Chicago XI, Hot Streets, Chicago 13, Chicago XIV, Chicago 16, Chicago 17, Chicago 18, Chicago 19, Twenty 1, Night & Day: Big Band, Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album, and Chicago XXX. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Chicago.

About Lyrics and Skinny Boy by Chicago

The lyrics to Skinny Boy are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by Chicago in 1974. Elements of the lyrics to Skinny Boy are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by Chicago and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for Skinny Boy back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to Skinny Boy by Chicago in a number of ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Skinny Boy" means the words set to the music of Skinny Boy, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Chicago. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Skinny Boy and the lyrics to Skinny Boy are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Chicago who came here looking just for the lyrics to Skinny Boy, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.