"I Saw A Hippy Girl On 8th Avenue" Lyrics

This is one of my (many) new favorite songs that I found on Pandora. I love this one because I used to dress all punk, but since I have been in college I just kind of wear jeans and t-shirts and sweatshirts every day. I don't even wear my black eyeliner anymore. I blow dry my hair maybe once a fortnight.

But I still feel like a 'punk' on the inside in that I want to be anti consumer culture and I don't like to be part of the mainstream unless I can think of a good reason. I'm a vegetarian and I still graduate towards people who are 'different.' My musical tastes still include punk and metal music, though I also like alternative, folk, country, classical, and even some hip-hop and rap every now and then. Really now I am just more of a science nerd more than a punk, and I have more important things to think about and spend my money on than what I wear.

Okay, so here are the lyrics (by Jeffrey Lewis):

I saw a hippy girl on 8th avenue
She barely looked at me for a second or two
and I suddenly realized I no longer looked much like a hippy
mmmmm

She had a long thin dress and rainbow clothes
not long ago I wore one of those
but now-a-days I guess I don't very much
like anything
mmmmm

I had a great pair of bellbottoms
I had two
my friend borrowed one
and the other I outgrew
and now to the eye
I'm turning into another
non-descript guy

But I still travel light
and my hair is still long
and I still hate deoderant
and I still sing songs
but over the years I've noticed
I'm not dressing as colorfully and psychedelic as I used to

Cause I wore my tye-dyes
until they rotted to shreds
and I can no longer follow
The Greatful Dead
and it's gotten to the point where I don't even identify with most Phish fans anymore

And someday soon I know I'll cut my hair
and a week after that I know I won't even care
Is that what it all comes to
all along
everything that you feel
will one day feel wrong

I was talking to my friend Eric
just to see what he thunk
and he said
'Jeff, it's weird
but I no longer look like a punk'
I guess we don't need our clothes
for an identity crutch
and we looked at each other
and we didn't look like much
and we looked out at the world
like a movie theatre
at all the hippies and the punks
and the skinheads and the skaters
and someday or other
maybe sooner or later
they'll come to the realization
that what's important is what you can carry on
in human conversation
and it's not what you wear on the outside
it's what you think and feel on the inside.