[ original version by r.e.m. ]

Looking at your watch a third time waiting in the station for a bus

Going to a place that's far, so far away and if that's not enough
Going where nobody says hello, they don't talk to anybody they don't
Know
You'll wind up in some factory that's full time filth and nowhere left
To go
Walk home to an empty house, sit around all by yourself
I know it might sound strange, but I believe
You'll be coming back before too long

Don't go back to rockville
And waste another year

At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend
I don't care if you're not here with me
'cause it's so much easier to handle
All my problems if I'm too far out to sea
But something better happen soon
Or it's gonna be too late to bring you back

It's not as though I really need you
If you were here I'd only bleed you
But everybody else in town only wants to bring you down and
That's not how it ought to be
I know it might sound strange, but I believe
You'll be coming back before too long