LA to MiamiTotal Recall

'68, touchdown at LAX, a different kind of air A sky so big and bleached with sun it answers its own prayer Came with a gym bag and a promise that I made myself in thunder Left the old world buried six feet deep, six thousand miles under Palm tree soldiers standin' guard on boulevards of chrome This ain't just a city, man, this feels like coming home Gold's Gym was a sand-pit, a temple built for gods Full of friendly giants trading stories, beatin' all the odds Weider sellin' fantasies in Technicolor bright "The Austrian Oak," he called me, bathed me in that Cali light. And in that golden state, I thought the path was clear and straight Just show up with the muscle, and you seal your own fate Yeah, the California dream, I breathed it in so deep A promise whispered from the hills, a fortune mine to keep. Flew to Miami, full of pride, a victory parade Forgot the ink was barely dry on the new vows that I made Walked in overconfident, my momentum was my shield Thought my European crown was all the power I could wield But Zane was cut from diamond, while my body was still dough Got beat by definition, boy, a tough way to say no. The judges' verdict was a gunshot in a silent room Stranded in a paradise that suddenly became my tomb. Staring at the ceiling in a cheap hotel, a ghost Far from every friend I had, and the thing I wanted most This golden state's a gamble, yeah, the stakes are so damn high One minute you're a hero, the next you wanna die. Darkness... silence... a stranger in a strange land... Then a lifeline cuts the silence... the future in my hand. "I was so devastated, I was lying in the middle of the night, in bed, in this hotel room" "And I thought the world is coming to an end" "I'm in this strange country, I cannot communicate here" "I'm thousands of miles away from home" "And I just lost, I disappointed everybody" "The next day I said, ok, you cried like a little baby" "And now let's move on"