When I was seventeen
I was chasing after dreams
In Southport
I had to get away
Or end up in a nursing home alone
When I was seventeen
I had a special love
And Southport
Didn't seem a bad place after all

On the promenade
The carnival facade is peeling
And the floral clock
Has stopped a moment caught in time
Such a sad decay
Well, it's something like the way I'm feeling
For such a dream so big
Southport seemed a little bit too small

And I was still naive
I really did believe in magic
Thought I had found a love
And treasured it above all else
But then I looked beyond
I saw another life was waiting
I was chasing after dreams
I had to find them by myself

I hope you understand
Such a love could never be
The sea has turned my soul
And it aches to be free
I will always think
Of Southport at the fair
Summer on the beach
The fun that we had there

With Southport in my mind
But Las Vegas in my heart
I set out to search for the stars
But every dream I dream
Follows where you've been
And it's tearing my heart apart

When I was seventeen
I left to find my dream
From Southport
January came
I blame myself for out goodbyes
Nothing is so sad
As the sea side out of season
And nothing is so sad
As you and I

When I was seventeen
I was chasing after dreams
In Southport
I had to get away
Or end up in a nursing home alone
And now it seems I'd never been
A boy of seventeen
In Southport
It didn't last
A lifetime passed
A love outgrown

Was it all a dream
Or was it all for real
I'm standing on the pier
I'm trying not to feel
The tears are in my eyes
Your face is in the sand
I'm trying to look down
I'm reaching out my hand
I'm falling to the wind
I'm waiting for the sea
But the sea is never in
It's never in for me
In Southport
(It's never in for me)