Caught In the Crowd

There was a guy at my school when I was in high school We'd ride side by side in the morning on our bicycles Never even spoken or faced each other But on the last hill, we'd race each other When we reached the racks, we'd each go our own way I wasn't in his classes, I didn't know his name When we finally got to speak, he just stared at his feet And mumbled a sentence that ended with James I was young and caught in the crowd I didn't know then what I know now I was dumb, and I was proud, and I'm sorry If I could go back, do it again I'd be someone you could call friend Please, please believe that I'm sorry Well, he was quite a big guy, kinda shy and quiet When the kids called him weird, he didn't try to deny it Every lunchtime he'd spend walking by himself 'Round the boundary of the grounds 'til he heard the bell Well, one day I found him, joined him on his walk We were silent for a while until we started to talk I told him my family were fighting in court He said his step-dad and him always fought We talked about music, he was into punk Told me all the bands that I liked were junk I said, "I'd never heard the songs the Sex Pistols sang" I laughed back at him and then the bell rang I was young and caught in the crowd I didn't know then what I know now I was dumb, and I was proud, and I'm sorry If I could go back, do it again I'd be someone you could call friend Please, please believe that I'm sorry It was after school in the afternoon The corridors were crowded as we came out of the rooms Three guys I knew pushed him into the cement Threw away his bag and said he had no friends He yelled that he did and he looked around He tried getting up but they pushed him on down That's when he saw me, called out my name And I turned my back and just walked away Yeah, I turned my back and just walked away I was young and caught in the crowd (I was young) I didn't know then what I know now I was dumb, and I was proud, and I'm sorry If I could go back, do it again I'd be someone you could call friend Please, please believe that I'm sorry Please, please believe that I'm sorry