In his eyes were the memories of heartache

In his smile, the remnants of pain

The lines of experience ran through his face

Like the tracks of a long winding train

I bought him a drink, he bought me one

And soon we were closer than skin

I said 'what brings you here to this region?'

He said 'hell, I don't know where to begin'.

I was born on a train in Nevada

My ma lost me in a strip poker game

She was down to her very last dollar

I was all she had left to her name

And she left me with the clothes I stood up in

And a picture of her as a child

There on the back she had written

These words that still make me smile.

Chorus:

Be a friend to yourself if not to others

Always smile in the mirror on the wall

Be a friend to your relatives and lovers

But be a friend to yourself first of all

Be a friend to yourself first of all.

I met her again some years later

I was king of a call-girl cafe

She was down to her very last dollar

She was a stranger and she'd lost her way

Well I told her I didn't need her or want her

But I gave her a ten dollar bill

And there on the back I had written

Her words, I remembered them still.

Chorus:

Be a friend to yourself if not to others

Always smile in the mirror on the wall

Be a friend to your relatives and lovers

But be a friend to yourself first of all

Be a friend to yourself first of all.