Painted pictures and colored glasses 
Burning hot like smoke and ashes 
Deserted halls and empty walls 
A memory of you recalls to me 
The way things used to be 

I love your letters and dried up flowers 
Ticking clocks that pass the hours 
Shadows here in the moonlight cast 
Memories of a haunting past you left behind for me 
To find a melody 

The way things used to be 

Turn up the radio 
To tune out your memory 
But even stronger now 
Sing out the harmony 
When will this hopeless dream 
Ever set me free? 

Sunday dinners, the table set 
Faces that you don't forget 
I spilled the milk and shattered a plate 
Reminds me of the stolen fate 
So sad, it's too bad 
That we lost what we had 
Now everything that I see becomes 
The way things used to be 
The way things used to be, oh 

The way things used to be