Only One Way[1]

Lyrics

You're going to get a wrinkle on your forehead
You're gonna get a click in your knee[2]
You're gonna tell the doctor that you can't sleep[3]
And you're up every night until three[4]

You're gonna make a bargain with the bad guys
You're gonna make some choices you regret[5]
There's no place[6] to hide from the prophecy
Since nobody told you it falls to me[7]

There's only one way out
There's only one way out
There's only one way through
No matter what you do

You're gonna have to watch for the signs
You're gonna have to learn how to read
Nobody's gonna hand you a flashlight
You're gonna have to steal what you need[8]

You're gonna have some trouble at the border
They're never gonna let you forget
I'm just passing on the information
Beaming[9] down to me from a distant station[10]

There's only one way out
There's only one way out
I've been told there's only one way through
No matter what you do
But if all that's true
What about you?
What about you?

Banter

Live Performances

Footnotes

1. Subtitle: "They consider one another in the often harsh light of how the world is".
2. This couplet connects to several other tMG songs that discuss the physical effects of aging, albeit here with less joy than "Possum by Night" or "The Ballad of Bull Ramos".
3. "your back aches" replaces "you can't sleep" (2023-10-28)
4. "three...thirty" (2023-12-10, 2023-12-15)
5. "you're gonna have to listen for the warnings/you're gonna have to tune in every night" (2023-10-07), "you're gonna learn to listen for the thunder/you're never gonna hear it in time" (2024-04-12).
6. "no way" (2023-10-05)
7. "you're gonna spend some time down at the bottom/you're gonna make some choices you regret" (2023-10-29)
8. Sung as "you're gonna have some trouble at the border/they're never gonna let you forget/nobody's gonna hand you a flashlight/to hunt for things you've grown to regret"(2023-10-03). Sung as "you're gonna dig around in the dark place/and have to be happy with whatever you get" (2023-10-05)
9. "calling" instead of "beaming" (2023-10-03, 2023-10-29, 2024-04-12)
10. A straightforward reference to the All Hail West Texas song Distant Stations.