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Click on the ‘Play’ button above to hear the song and read the lyrics below. If the player doesn’t start straight away, wait and then press the ‘Play’ button again.
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I Used To Do Those Things from the album STORMY WEATHER by ‘Les Paul’s’ (The Paul’s) released 4 March 2026 HERE.
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download I Used To Do Those Things on Bandcamp HERE
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Watch the video promo on YouTube HERE
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I Used To Do Those Things is a poignant, reflective blues narrative from the perspective of a man near the end of his life.
It’s a confessional ballad that chronicles a journey from a wild, reckless youth to a weary, contemplative old age.
The song lyrics are a candid inventory of past sins and indiscretions: illicit flings, substance abuse (“smokey train,” “make my head spin”), egotistical fights, and a general wandering down the “wrong route.”
The narrator acknowledges the allure of this “forbidden fruit” but presents his current self as definitively separate from that past.
The recurring refrain, “I don’t do them now,” serves as both a mantra of change and a resignation to the physical and mental limitations of aging.
The song also touches on a complicated relationship with faith, mentioning failed attempts to find solace in religion (“prison chapel,” “church hymns”), highlighting a sense of spiritual drifting that mirrors his physical life.
Ultimately, the track is a final plea for forgiveness as the narrator faces his mortality, with the relentless ticking clock serving as a constant reminder that his time is running out.
It’s a story of acceptance, not necessarily redemption, told with the honesty of someone who has nothing left to prove.
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I Used To Do Those Things Lyrics
Got one foot in front, got one behind
Walking as slow as I can through time
The clock’s ticking fast, goes on and on
And will keep on ticking long after I’ve gone
You span the bottle and you won me
A bet’s a bet, was the luck of the draw you see
But I said no, no, no I was old enough to be your Pa
I could have been though, as I once knew your Ma
In my time I had some trysts and flings
I used to do those things
I don’t do them now
I don’t do them now
I’ve ridden the smokey train along the tracks
It’s a one way journey, say there’s no coming back
But I stopped the train and I jumped off
All that smoke left me half blind with a bad cough
I used to do stuff to make my head spin
I used to do those things
I don’t do them now
I don’t do them now
I liked to argue and prove I knew more
Sometimes I didn’t know what I was arguing for
Like in a boxing ring giving blow after blow
Maybe it was coz of my ego, I really don’t know
I used to fight, I just had to win
I used to do those things
I don’t do them now
I don’t do them now
Guess I’ve wandered and I’ve strayed
I sure did get lost along the way
And travelled down the wrong route
Man, I’ve eaten all kinds of forbidden fruit
I was young when I earnt my wings
When I was taught to do those things
I don’t do them now
I don’t do them now
In my life I’ve done many things wrong
Guess I’m weak and am not that strong
Sometimes the train will come off the tracks
Everyone tells me no, don’t look back
Like everyone else, now and then I’ve sinned
I used to do those things
I don’t do them now
I don’t do them now
Prayers in the prison chapel couldn’t set me free
I can’t blame God for all that happened to me
Sometimes I do and sometimes I won’t
Sometimes I believe and sometimes I don’t
I tried going to church to sing their hymns
I used to do those things
I don’t do them now
I don’t do them now
In most of my time I tried to do good
I asked for forgiveness whenever I could
Now my time on this earth isn’t long
I gotta say, I’m sorry for all that I’ve done wrong
The clock’s ticking fast, goes on and on
And will keep on ticking long after I’ve gone
The clock’s ticking fast, goes on and on
And will keep on ticking long after I’ve gone
Music composed and performed by Paul Odiase BMI No. 1252265 (Switzerland)
Song lyrics by Paul Robert Thomas PRS No. 497904008 (London)
PRS Tunecode: 938831HN
Audiosparx licensing Catalog ID: 1390876 ISRC: US5UL2614683
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