I don’t have the money to pay back the money
That I borrowed to pay back the money that I borrowed to pay rent
It’s all been spent
And I don’t have a job because I’m going to school
For the prerequisites to get into another school to get my degree
So somebody will employ me

But I can still pretend that things are fine
I can travel back to a simpler time
‘Cause when reality sucks there’s a paradise
In my mind, in my mind, in my mind, yeah, in my mind

Everything is perfect ‘cause it’s 1997
And nothing bad has happened yet
Nobody’s sad in 1997
And there’s no such thing as fear and regret
By 1998, it’ll already be way too late
Yeah, if I had my way I’d be livin’ in 1997

I don’t have a girlfriend ‘cause my standards are way too high
To date anybody whose standards are low enough to date me
Like, how desperate is she?
And I don’t have kids ‘cause I’m just not ready
And I won’t be ready ’til I’m old enough to regret not having them
So I guess I’ll just wait ’til then

But I don’t have to sit here and complain
I can just escape to somewhere sane
I can avoid hard decisions with the Utopian visions
In my brain, in my brain, in my brain, yeah in my brain

Nothing sucks at all because it’s 1997
And the whole wide world is still at peace
Nobody died in 1997
There’s no wars, no murders, and no disease
By 1998, we’ll all have already sealed our fate
But all our sins are forgiven in 1997

Maybe I've got a selective memory
Perhaps I romanticize the past arbitrarily
Maybe my nostalgia negates my objectivity
Maybe Orbitz Soda was just okay
And Savage Garden's career was a big mistake
But if this is the best that history has, I'll take it
I'll take it

1, 2, 3, 4!

There was no climate change in 1997
And barely any national debt
Three years ’til Y2K and four ’til 9/11
We didn't know Tom Cruise was crazy yet
By 1998, all we had left was darkness and hate
The closest we'll ever get to heaven was 1997
The closest we'll ever get to heaven... was 1997