Lyrics with meaning

[busterb]

30 years ago, this was one of my theme songs. Jerry Lee Lewis. 39 and holding

He's out there somewhere every night
Where the music's playing loud
Doing all the 50's steps, in a 1980 crowd

The dim lights hide his millage lines
The Clairol hides the gray
And he won't mention anything
That gives his age away

Lord, he's thirty-nine and holding
Holding everything he can
From seventeen to twenty-five
He'll prove he's still a man

He's holding to a candle
And it's burning at both ends
He's thirty-nine and holding
Holding everything he can

You can bet he'll never see
Thirty-nine again
He should have turned loose long ago
But still he's hangin' it in

He still thinks that he is the man
That he used to be
He's thirty-nine and holding
And acting twenty-three

Lord, He's thirty-nine and holding
Holding everything he can
From seventeen to twenty-five
To prove he's still a man

He's holding to a candle
My God, it's burning at both ends
He's thirty-nine and holding
Holding everything he can