Green leaves shiver on that tree,
Seasons turn like traffic lights,
Like some fine flashing thing,
Just outside, whispering, 'Hold on, boy, you're gonna need this memory.'

I've seen baby hands reach out,
Grab my fingers like a vice,
Grab my glasses, grab my keys,
Grab my heart by the strings,
Hold on, boy, you're gonna need this memory.

If all I got for all my trouble is just a box of souvenirs, still it's worth a lot just to remember, just to know that I was here.

Lovers smile from photographs of endless summers by the sea,
I still hear old friends joke and laugh,
From the past, they call to me,
Saying, 'Hold on, boy, you're gonna need this memory.'

If all we got for all our trouble is just this box of souvenirs, still it's worth a lot just to remember, just so we know that we were here.

Footprints walking in the sand,
The tide will come and wash them clean,
Sometimes when you squeeze my hand,
Think I know just what you mean,
You're saying, 'Hold on, boy, you're gonna need this memory,'
Hold on, boy, you're gonna need this memory.