Lyrics in Progress

you say that your life's a mess
I say it's a game
you say I don't have a clue
I say that is all the same

if you're the young man with no future
I'm the old man with no past
if you do not believe me
then we both are badly cast

you say you've had such high hopes
but the outlook is quite bleak
I say that's a point of view
worthwhile only for the meek

if you're the young man with no future
I'm the old man with no past
if you do not believe me
then we both are badly cast

The first two lines of the chorus come out of my scratch book. They have stood there for a few weeks and patiently waited to be re-discovered. Maybe I should mention that most of my email and songwriting partners are very young, so that's how I got the idea in the first place.

When I looked up rhymes for "past" I found "cast", "vast", "fast", "last", and more. In the dictionary there were several examples for phrases with "cast" like "the play is well cast", or "he was badly cast". Thus I came up with "then we both are badly cast", I just love that image!

The line "but the outlook is quite bleak" first read "... is quite poor", then "... is quite dark". I had looked up rhymes for both versions, but was not happy with my findings ("you are off the mark" was one idea which was not too bad). Again, I consulted my dictionary to check how else an outlook could be, and thus found "bleak".

Next, I think I need another verse in the "you say - I say" manner, and also a bridge which should be not too short.