Elton John Album

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

We heard Richard Nixon say, welcome to the USA
The common sense I sometimes lack
Has opened up a seismic crack
We've fallen in and I can't pull back
And I guess we'll have to stay

In open arms we put our trust they put us on a big red bus
Twin spirits soaking up a dream
Fuel to feed the press machine
After years that were long and lean
We're finally on our way

chorus:
And Richard Nixon's on his knees he's sent so many overseas
He'd like to know if you and me could help him in some way
A little camouflage and glue to mask the evil that men do
A small diversion caused by two, pale kids come to play
And we heard Richard Nixon say "welcome to the USA"

Neither of us understood the way things ticked in Hollywood
We just loaded in and grabbed the bat
With little room to swing a cat
And pretty soon we were where it's at
Or so the papers say

And all around us suntanned teens, beauty like we'd never seen
Our heroes led us by the hand
Through Brian Wilson's promised land
Where Disney's God and he commands
Both mice and men to stay

[repeat chorus]

In a bright red Porsche on Sunset I saw Steve McQueen
I guess he's just about the coolest guy I've ever seen
And for you and me that speeding car is how it's going to be
I see no brakes just open road and lots of gasoline

Oh we heard Richard Nixon say, welcome to the USA
The common sense I sometimes lack
Has opened up a seismic crack
We've fallen in and I can't pull back

Pale kids come to play
And we heard Richard Nixon say, I've gotta go but you can stay

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

It's just like Noah's ark
There's two of every kind
Pretty girls and boys in drag
Walking a fine thin line
Shaking hands and bussing cheeks
Licking their lips like they could eat
Me alive in a couple of weeks
Yea just like Noah's ark

Italiano promotion men
Chomping a big cigar
Slapping backs and making cracks
About the fags in the bar
Radio boss dipping his nose in a little white packet
You put it out son and we'll all back it
Yea it's just like Noah's ark

chorus:
And the waves are crashing round us
But we're ready for the flood
And we don't need a sign like an olive branch
In the beak of a snow white dove
We're not as dumb as we might look
You can't keep us in the dark
With me and you it's two by two just like Noah's ark

These four walls have seen
The Cockettes and the Casters
From San Francisco to Ohio
I've seen beauty and disaster
Cocky young roosters and little chicks
Flashing smiles, shaking them hips
Trying to hook it up for the late night shift
Here in Noah's ark

[repeat chorus]

And we wrote it as we saw it from the centre of the stage
All access to the liars who claim they wrote a page
But for every tiny dancer there's a dog that's had its day
The truth is never quite the same as what the papers say

[repeat chorus]

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

I remember it like it was yesterday
Snow in the park and skaters on the ice
Long black cars standing side-by-side
Loading up the boys at night

Turned up our collars to the chill of the wind
Caught an innocent smile from a taxi at the lights
Not something you'd see on a New York street
It's such an uncommon sight

chorus:
But I wouldn't have it any other way
This city's got a thing about it, don't try to understand it
New York City I'd really like to stay
New York City I wouldn't have you
I wouldn't have you any other way

Oh the subway rumbled underneath
Italian lights where Joey Gallo died
And the man on the door down at 54's
Letting only the pretty inside

I'd wake with a stranger under the covers
Late in the day and longing for the night
Just like the snowfall there's so many bodies
But somehow it feels so right

[repeat chorus]

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Nostradamus said I predict
That the world will end at half past six
What he didn't say was exactly when
Was he listening to the radio?
Was he listening to the government?

Well he got us spooked anyway
We'd been running hot up until today
But a wind of change blew across our sales
We were coasting on a winning streak
We were kings until the power failed

chorus:
We've been living in a tinderbox
And two sparks can set the whole thing off
Rubbing up together around the clock
Lately we've been getting more roll than rock
You and me together in a tinderbox
Two sparks can set the whole thing off
Rubbing up together around the clock
Lately we've been getting more roll than rock
You and me together in a tinderbox

Godzilla came in disguise
Tore the building down right before our eyes
Kept the needle out of the red balloon
Was he worried we might go too far
Maybe wind up rhyming moon and June

The sun descends down in Mexico
While a fancy car back on Savile Row
Shows the price of fame leads to overkill
Things are gonna have to change
Some holes along the road get filled

[repeat chorus]

Pressure's gonna cook us if we don't unlock it
Guns going off if we don't uncock it
We've gotta climb out of the other one's pocket
Or we're gonna burn, out on this beautiful rocket

[repeat chorus]

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

The sun is up and the shades are all pulled down
I'm more paranoid with every little sound
Like the leaf blower blowing the leaves around
And a siren wailing on the other side of town

Oh the TVs on and the colors really hurt my head
If I could think straight I'd wish I was dead
Or curled up naked in my lover's bed
Instead I'm hanging over Hell suspended by a single thread

chorus:
And I don't recall who said it at this time
That your enemies grow strong on what you leave behind
I built it up and the wolf he came around
He huffed and puffed and the house fell down

With a rolled up note I'm hovering on that line
Three days on a diet of cocaine and wine
And a little weed just to level me sometime
I put the clock in the drawer 'cause I've cancelled out the time

[repeat chorus]

So don't knock on my door, don't try to call
I'm holed up in this room talking to the wall
When you're high as this you think you know it all
When you're this deep in there's no place else to fall

[repeat chorus]

And still that saying gets inside my mind
That your enemies grow strong on what you leave behind
I built it up and the wolf he came around
He huffed and puffed and the house fell down

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

He wasn't famous but I sure did love him
I've got his picture in a little frame
He lost his life to a big disease before it even had a name
But there's so many more and I've lost count
The hows and whys aren't important now
All that matters is they came around
And brightened up our lives

She was twenty one with her life ahead
You don't need to know her name
She breathed her last on the cold stone floor of a Hollywood arcade
But fate's right hand isn't always just
Puts a lot of pressure on your faith and trust
She was just a little girl ain't that enough
To rage against the day

chorus:
And how did we get so lucky?
Targets on the rifle range
Who makes the call and who gets to choose?
Who gets to win and who gets to lose?
It's like a rolling dice in the belly of the blues
And blues never fade away
Hey hey the colors run when the rain falls
But blues never fade away

He shone so bright with a lust for life
Like the Sun King that he was
His passions hung upon his walls and were printed onto cloth
And for reasons I never understood
About the choices made between the bad and good
I've tried to figure out but
The pain never goes away

[repeat chorus]

And there's marble markers and little white crosses
Along the beaten path
And I've spread their ashes on the wind
And I miss John Lennon's laugh

[repeat chorus]

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

I've seen the bridge and the bridge is long
And they built it high and they built it strong
Strong enough to hold the weight of time
Long enough to leave some of us behind

chorus:
And every one of us has to face that day
Do you cross the bridge or do you fade away
And every one of us that ever came to play
Has to cross the bridge or fade away

Standing on the bridge looking at the waves
Seen so many jump, never seen one saved
On a distant beach your song can die
On a bitter wind, on a cruel tide

[repeat chorus]

And the bridge it shines
Oh cold hard iron
Saying come and risk it all
Or die trying

[repeat chorus]

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

I'm no longer counting I'm not keeping score
I could say my list of lovers doesn't matter anymore
But some are always in my heart
And some I'm not so sure
Either way they all left their mark
And for some I found a cure

chorus:
From one you learn something
Another you learn, nothing
And there's one who might teach you everything
But before I learned to listen
And if indeed someone said it
Then I guess I must have lost it on the wind

Back when I was younger each one was a prize
Love just came along and hit you right between the eyes
And one was just a trophy catch
And one was like a curse
Some would want to bleed you dry
Some might quench your thirst

[repeat chorus]

In cold water I went fishing in warm seas I cast a line
And swore the heart I was reeling in was perfect at the time
You couldn't tell me I was wrong, you couldn't tell me anything
And if you did then I guess I must have lost it on the wind

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Hey how about this
A little conversation tonight
Thinking aloud how we struggled to find
Our place in the dizzy heights

Don't often do this
We never really get the chance
Nearly froze to death on Oxford Street
Now we're sitting in the South of France

Talking through the evening
It's good to shoot the breeze
Just you and me on a balcony
And cicadas singing in the trees

chorus:
Old '67 what a time it was
What a time of innocence, what a time we've lost
Raise a glass and have a laugh, have a laugh or two
Here's to old '67 and an older me and you

Sentimental twilight
Conversing on those virgin days
Laughing about how the two of us sound
Like a Tennessee Williams play

Honest, it's amazing
That we can get together at all
For in between the saddle and the grand piano
We can read the writing on the wall

Talking through the evening
Sitting here side by side
Just you and me on a balcony
It's a little bit funny this feeling inside

[repeat chorus]

[repeat chorus]

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

I've been out here on this road some
Can't help feeling I've been showing my friends around
I've seen it growing from next to nothing
Into a giant eating up your town

Called up the tealeaves and the tarots
Asked the gypsy what she sees in the palm of our hands
She saw a mountain and a wild deer running
A crazy kid becoming a better man

But we stuck around for the fireworks
Waiting to explode
Shaped our futures, you a tumbleweed
And me on a yellow brick road
Pleasing the people some of the time
For better or for worse
An urban soul in a fine silk suit
And a heart out west in a Wrangler shirt

chorus:
And you can't go back and if you try it fails
Looking up ahead I see a rusty nail
A sign hanging from it saying "Truth for sale"
And that's what we did
No lies at all just one more tale
About the Captain and the Kid

We've been missing at times in action
Can't imagine what he said he might do for you
The devil got to come to the party sometimes
But he never got to wear our shoes

Oh we've conjured up what we created
Way back then when I was standing up in six-inch heels
Now you're riding off into the sunset
And I'm still spinning like a Catherine wheel

But we stuck around for the battle
Waiting for a plan
To turn you into the Brown Dirt Cowboy
And me into a rocket man
It pleases the people some of the time
Digging into our roots
But I got a brand new pair of shoes
And you're on a horse in old cowboy boots

[repeat chorus]

[repeat chorus]