(Van Morrison)
Lost in a strange city
Nowhere to turn

Far cry from the streets that
I came from
It can get lonely

When you're travelling hard
But you can even be lonely
Standing in your own back yard


Nobody knows the existential dread
Of the things that go on inside

Someone else's head
Whether it be trivial
Or something that Dante said

But baby nobody knows the meaning of loneliness

No matter how well you know someone

You can only ever guess
How can you ever really know somebody else?
It takes more than a lifetime

Just to get to know yourself
Nobody knows the meaning of loneliness


[Instrumental break]

I have to say a word about solitude

For the soul it sometimes they say can be good
And I'm partial to it myself, well I must confess
Nobody knows the meaning of loneliness


Well there's Sartre and Camus, Nietzsche and Hesse
If you dig deep enough

You gonna end up in distress
And no one escapes having to live life under duress
And no one escapes the meaning of loneliness


Well they say keep it simple when it gets to be a mess
And fame and fortune

Never brought anyone happiness
I must be lucky
Some of my friends think that I'm really blessed

Nobody knows the meaning of loneliness

[Scatting and instrumental break]


No, no, no, no, nobody knows the meaning of loneliness
No, no, no, nobody knows the meaning of loneliness

Nobody knows the meaning of loneliness

[The published lyrics include the following verses:]


Bright lights, big city nowhere to turn
Far cry from the streets where I was born

I've been doing some travelling
Sometimes the road gets hard
But you can also be lonely

Standing in your own backyard

No, no, no, no, no, no, nobody knows

The meaning of loneliness
No, no, no, no, nobody knows
The meaning of loneliness

Nobody knows the meaning of loneliness