Standard (EADGBE)

 Chords used:

(intro)

(verse)

Young Johnny, he really had a way,

 He did his homework on the schoolbus and he always got an A.

 And the girls liked Johnny more than anyone 'cept maybe Elton John.

Later on in high school he couldn't keep his red suspenders on.

(chorus)

Oh, where's Johnny, has he gone away

Oh, where's Johnny, will he be back someday.

(verse)

He had a room full of trophies

From the track meets and the tennis games he'd win.

He was a full blown wiz-kid an' he's bound to be a renaissance man.

Then he went on off to college

Got his head stuck in a different state of mind

When they asked him was it alcohol

He told them it was nothin' of the kind.

Just life. Just life, Mom.

(chorus)

Oh, where's Johnny, has he gone away

Oh, where's Johnny, will he be back someday.

(break)

 Ah but Johnny's alright, he just turned out his lights

 They'd have paid it no mind had he not been so bright.

 He opened up his eyes, and he snapped out of the groove

 He saw both sides of everything and he found he could not move.

(verse)

Johnny moved home now he reads a lot of poetry and plays

He'll sit out in the backyard and not say a word to anyone for days.

And his folks gave up, they no longer even bother gettin' through.

Hell he's thirty odd years old

They must have figured there's just so much you can do.

(instrumental)

(verse)

His mother keeps his pictures

In the scrapbook in the drawer with her pearls

She polishes the trophies

That he won back when they thought he'd save the world

Back when the girls liked Johnny

More than anyone 'cept maybe Elton John

She wonder's where's her little boy

With the braces and the red suspenders gone.

Just life. Just life, Mom.

Just life. Just life, Mom.

Just life.