it's the principle, pal

I picked it up for nothing back in 1994
my cozy little hovel and I loved to shut that door
had I known back then what I know now
would've been different story
Would have paid it down and sold it off and bathed in fortune's glory.

My brother Vinny told me that that's not the way to think
to worry about what might have been is a waste of time and ink
Take the good stuff with the bad and be glad of what you learn
next time pay the principal and keep more of what you earn.

It's the principle I tell ya, the dealings of the day
when you're way too dumb to see the hand that's being dealt your way,
and it's the principal I speak of cuz you gotta pay to save
well you can fight to knock it down or it can take you to the grave.

So I had this little hovel it was fit for you and me
but I couldn't stand the view and so I got on bended knee
and then I jumped the gun and paid a man who gut the inside out
and he moved me up to Red Bank just before I threw him out.

Well I paid the rent and paid the bills and swung the mortgage too
but the second builder took me down and the equity I blew.
I sat up on that third floor over Rocky's Barbershop
cryin, "God I got a problem, and I don't think it's gonna stop,

'Cuz I had to take another job but first I went and quit
I maxed out all my credit cards and now I'm in deep chit
Well I'm payin on a house that's not fit to house a mite
and a case against another man with no energy to fight."

Well the only thing I knew was I was out of gas and flow
the rent was due in one short week, and with no where else to go
I placed an ad on Craig's list and not a minute late
The man was needing headroom as he was pushing six foot eight.

So feeling downright anxious, well I freaked out like before,
I gave away my plants and bed and the rest I;d have to store
So I called my work and asked them to cut the last check early
short on God's compassion, they performed a mental swirlie.

Not knowing God had worked it out, I prayed for peace, then slept
I'd have to move some furniture that the good doctor downstairs kept
when she showed up the next morning with two men I asked the fee
and she said, "Gina, just go get the truck~ these men don't work for free."

To make the story longer well I had just enough to pay
for lunch for these kind citizens who showed up to make my day
and I learned a simple lesson as I came back to the folks
that God will always help you but you have to watch the blokes.

Well it's not about the money, maybe more about the shame
and it's strikes me kinda funny that we're digging for the same
and you know you're gonna work until you drop from sheer exhaustion
and you'll live in Daddy's house until you lose it at the auction.

This one's about the principle, and the stuff you gotta learn
when your young enough to owe, your money banks and builders burn
And I lean in hard to Jesus,'cuz His word is true today
"The battle is mine sayeth the Lord"~ ~but the principal you gotta pay.