Pity the Child

Benny Andersson, Tim Rice, and Bjorn Ulvaeus
THE AMERICAN:
 When I was nine I learned survival
 Taught myself not to care
 I was my single good companion
 Taking my comfort there
 Up in my room I planned my
 conquests
 On my own -- never asked for a
 helping hand
 No one would understand
 I never asked the pair who fought
 below
 Just in case they said no
 Pity the child who has ambition
 Knows what he wants to do
 Knows that he'll never fit the system
 Others expect him to
 Pity the child who knew his parents
 Saw their faults
 Saw their love die before his eyes
 Pity the child that wise
 He never asked Did I cause your
 distress?
 Just in case they said yes
 When I was twelve my father moved
 out
 Left with a whimper -- not with a shout
 I didn't miss him -- he made it perfectly
 clear
 I was a fool and probably queer
 Fool that I was I thought this would
 bring
 Those he had left closer together
 She made her move the moment he
 crawled away
 I was the last the woman told
 She never let her bed get cold
 Someone moved in -- I shut my door
 Someone to treat her just the same
 way as before
 I took the road of least resistance
 I had my game to play
 I had the skill, and more -- the hunger
 Easy to get away
 Pity the child with no such weapons
 No defense, no escape from the ties
 that bind
 Always a step behind
 I never called to tell her all I'd done
 I was only her son!
 Pity the child but not forever
 Not if he stays that way
 He can get all he ever wanted
 If he's prepared to pay
 Pity instead the careless mother
 What she missed
 What she lost when she let me go
 And I wonder does she know
 I wouldn't call -- a crazy thing to do
 Just in case she said who?