Benny Andersson, Tim Rice, and Bjorn Ulvaeus

THE AMERICAN:

 When I was nine I learned survival

 Taught myself not to care

 I was my single good companion

 Taking my comfort there

 Up in my room I planned my

 conquests

 On my own -- never asked for a

 helping hand

 No one would understand

 I never asked the pair who fought

 below

 Just in case they said no

 Pity the child who has ambition

 Knows what he wants to do

 Knows that he'll never fit the system

 Others expect him to

 Pity the child who knew his parents

 Saw their faults

 Saw their love die before his eyes

 Pity the child that wise

 He never asked "Did I cause your

 distress?"

 Just in case they said yes

 When I was twelve my father moved

 out

 Left with a whimper -- not with a shout

 I didn't miss him -- he made it perfectly

 clear

 I was a fool and probably queer

 Fool that I was I thought this would

 bring

 Those he had left closer together

 She made her move the moment he

 crawled away

 I was the last the woman told

 She never let her bed get cold

 Someone moved in -- I shut my door

 Someone to treat her just the same

 way as before

 I took the road of least resistance

 I had my game to play

 I had the skill, and more -- the hunger

 Easy to get away

 Pity the child with no such weapons

 No defense, no escape from the ties

 that bind

 Always a step behind

 I never called to tell her all I'd done

 I was only her son!

 Pity the child but not forever

 Not if he stays that way

 He can get all he ever wanted

 If he's prepared to pay

 Pity instead the careless mother

 What she missed

 What she lost when she let me go

 And I wonder does she know

 I wouldn't call -- a crazy thing to do

 Just in case she said who?