If I knew then what I know now
If I knew then what I know now
I can tell you this story
I don't know what it means
I confess it is a small thing
That happened to me
Years ago, far from home
I'd take the train
To the house where I lived
Where it cost me less to stay
And I knew a girl
But I could not speak to her
I could not accomplish
This simplest of things
If I knew then what I know now
If I knew then what I know now
Station to station
I would travel alone
Everything was closed then
People staggering home
On the platform in the rain
I saw the girl
No one else around
Yeah, just the girl
And so I approached her
And saw she was crying
And so I said to her
"Are you okay?
Why are you crying?
Tell me, what was his name?"
If I knew then what I know now
If I knew then what I know now
If I knew then what I know now
If I knew then what I know now
Then I said
"Perhaps I can help you
And then we would be friends
You would confide in me"
"And many years later
Maybe you'd write to me
We would remember
I would remember"
If I knew then what I know now
If I knew then what I know now
If I knew then what I know now
If I knew then what I know now