Styx Album

Love is the ritual

(Hey) little sister
She got a lot of time she got a lot of money
Don't you know that aint enough
(Hey) pretty thing
All dressed up for the main attraction
Like a baby doll looking for love

And she doesn't need a reason
She just hears a calling to the wild
(Hey) yeah

CHORUS
God gave man the breath of life
To grow up strong to take a wife
To change the world and love is the ritual
You learn to walk & talk & laugh & cry
Work your fingers to the bone 'til the day you die
And above it all love is the ritual

Na na na-na, na na na-na
Na na

CHORUS

There's a method to this madness
And a message calling to the wild
(Hey) huh

God gave man the breath of live
To grow up strong to take a wife
To change the world and love is the ritual
You learn to walk & talk & laugh & cry
(He) gave you heart and soul till the day you die
And above it all love is the ritual

Come on, dance, little sister, little sister wants to dance
All night looking for a true romance
When in a black leather jacket walks little brother
To rock her world, to be her lover

So signal all the children
Send a message calling to the wild
(Hey)

CHORUS

Na na na-na, na na na-na
Na na, love is the ritual
Na na na-na, na na na-na
Na na, love is the ritual (love is the ritual)
Na na na-na, na na na-na
Na na, love is the ritual (love is the ritual)

copyright 1990 War Bride/hampstead Heath

Every night I say a prayer, in the hopes that theres a Heaven.
But every day Im more confused, as the saints turn in to sinners.
All the heros and legends I knew as a Child, have fallen to idols of clay.
And I feel this empty place inside, so afraid, that I've lost my faith.

Show me the way.
Show me the way.
Take me tonight, to the river and wash my illusions away.
Please show me the way.

As I slowly drift to sleep, for a moment, dreams are sacred.
Close my eyes, and know there's peace,
in a world so filled with hatred.
That I wake up each morning, and turn on the news, and find we've so far to go.
And I keep on hoping for a sign, so afraid, I just won't know.

Show me the way.
Show me the way.
Bring me tonight, to the mountain and take my confusion away.
And show me the way.

And if I see your light, should I believe?
Tell me, how will I know?

show me the way
show me the way
take me tonight to river and wash my illusions away
show me the way
show me the way
give me the strength and the courage to belive i will get there someday
and please show me the way
every night i say a prayer in hopes that theres a Heaven

Living on the edge of the century

See the world in revolution
Spinning faster all the time
We're heading for the end of something
Just about to step across that line
Oh, can't you see?
We're staring in the face of reality
Oh, you and me
We're living on the edge of the century

Feel the way the earth is shaking
Hear the rumble miles away
Say goodby to Checkpoint Charlie
Walls are falling every day
Oh, can't you see?
Every step we take we're making history
Oh, you and me
We're living on the edge of the century

Can't turn off the information
Can't sit back in your easy chair
Can't ignore a generation
Better get ready cause we're almost there

We're moving at the speed of life
Into a brave new world where the strong will survive
The dawn's gonna break and I'll meet you
On the other side

Can't stand still while the earth is turning
Can't take cover til the coast is clear
Can't play guitar while Rome is burning
Look our now cause the future's here

And we're moving at the speed of life
Living on the edge
On the edge of the century

driving past your house again, i feel the same way i did then
i get weak just thinking about you
it all began so easily. a look from you, a glance form me
our eyes met like thunder and lightning
you and i, strangers lost in a moment
eye to eye, we were caught unaware of this passion inside us
love at first site
i know that this can't be happening, no not to someone like me
love at first sight
so rare, and so exciting, i only hope this love we found can last
i'm not a man who acts this way, but lately i can't concentrate
and i can't sleep just dreaming about you
i try to reach you on the phone, but voices there say you're not home
my heart aches, just thinking i've lost you
one more time, seein your face in the moonlight
one more chance to be caught unaware of this passion inside us
love at first sight
i know that this can't be happening, no not to someone like me
love at first sight
it's hard to keep your balance, moving past the point of no return
if you need some time to understand your feelings
if you need some time away
i'll be waiting for you with open arms, my love
all that night, we made love in the moonlight
eye to eye, we were so unaware of this passion inside us
love at first sight
i know that this can't be happening, no not to someone like me
love at first sight
it's rare, and so exciting, i only hope this love we found can last

She wakes up from a dream, checks the mirror for reality
She says "Come on girl, it's all in a day's work"
Gets herself dressed just in time, disappears on the 8:05
Oo, the whistle blows and it's all in a day's work
'Til she calls it a day

Oh, she smiles as he glances up from the swimsuit issue
Oh, she sighs as he walks away into the downtown day

CHORUS
(Day after day night after night)
(Loneliness creeps in her window)
(She locks the door, turns off the light)
(Rehearsing a kiss on her pillow)
(She cries) it's all in a day's work

Turning pages while the memories pass
Familiar faces from her senior class
How the years go by when it's all in a day's work
"Dearest Ruby, hope you reach your star
Don't ever change, stay as sweet as you are"
And when a teardrop falls, she calls it a day's work
She calls it a day

Oh, she waits by the telephone for the call he promised
Oh, it's late, she puts her heart away for another day

CHORUS

CHORUS

All in a day's work
Yeah
Oo

Well I was born too late to be a Rolling Stone
I don't know Jerry Lee I never met John & Yoko
Standin' with a strat, I'm rock 'n' roll's bastard son
Go out get drunk get wild have fun
I don't got a million dollars don't drive a Cadillac
Give me half a chance 'cause I'm not dead yet

I'm not dead yet
I'm not dead yet
I'm a mad dog fighting with the wall against my back
You better get a bigger gun I'm not dead yet

I've been machine-gunned handgunned hijacked left for dead
Dive-bombed napalmed nuclear warheaded
Dropped from a jet plane with no parachute
Shot by a firing squad & raped by a business suit
I'm dancin' on a land mine baby one leg left
And I can still crawl and I'm not dead yet

Well you're bigger tougher meaner rougher
Dirtier and uglier and sneakier and trickier
You wanna shoot me with a gun, cut me with a knife
Take your bare hands baby rip out my eyes
You knocked me to the floor then you bit me in the neck, well
Hit me again cause I'm not dead yet

I'm not dead yet, no no
I'm not dead yet
Well I'm a wild card hidin' in the middle of the deck
You better get a bigger gun, you better get a bigger gun

Well there's a mugger in the alley there's a sniper in the hall
There's a girl at the bar wants to get me by my balls
And the hangman is hangin', if I autograph the noose
Lee Harvey Oswald's brother's on the loose
Mafia hit man with a bullet for my neck
Some day he's gonna get me but I'm not dead yet

I'm not dead yet
I'm not dead yet
I'm a wild card hidin' in the middle of the deck
You better get a bigger gun, you better get your poison pen

A child is born in the world tonite, underneath the full moonlight
And on the nightway a fire starts, diesel engines & broken hearts
The girls wanna dance and the boys wanna fight
Gonna get rockin' in the world tonite
The black cat howls and the mad dog bites
Somthing gonna happen in the world tonite

Now up in heaven the starts align, stirring up the world tonite
In the jungle the power's strong, and tribes are restless all night long
And the girls wanna dance, the boys wanna fight
Gonna get rockin' in the world tonite
Tension's rising, you can cut it with a knoife
Sticky situation in the world tonite
The world tonite
Big moon staring at the world tonite

Young blood run free,
You can be anything you wanna be
Young blood run wild
You've got the will of a king and the heart of a child

Yeah so gimme a beat cause here I come.
Tonite's the night I'm
Gonna bang my drum. Gotta million watts on the tip of my tongue
And I feel like a trigger on a loaded gun.
Crank up the station. Shake the foundation. Wake up the nation
We got a situation where someone's got a button, connected to a bomb
And it don't matter whose side you're on
They can have it all back by the morning light,
All we want is the world tonite.

Girls wanna dance, the boys wanna fight
Gonna get rocking in the world tonite
Read all about it in black and white
Everybody gone crazy in the world tonite

Time stands still, baby when I touch you
I can't believe the way I'm feelin'
Please don't speak, it's taken me all this time
To find the strength just to say

That I never knew what love was til I met you
Never thought that I could act this way
But I'm still afraid to show how much I need you
Tell me, what makes a man like me this way

Carrie Ann, don't ask me why
Baby I work so hard just to hide my emotions
Carrie Ann, words can't explain
The way that I feel in my heart

Lovers' hearts never quite beat in time
They never find that perfect rhythm
You know I let you down many times
But this I promise to you
That I'll never lead you through doors of deception
I won't bind you to a chain of lies
Though I know my love for you won't be perfection
What I give to you will last all time

Carrie Ann, don't ask me why
Baby I work so hard just to hide my emotions
Carrie Ann, my words can't explain
The way that I feel in my heart

Take a little time to realize
I'll love you faithfully
Just take a little time and you'll see
That baby it's me

Carrie Ann, don't ask me why
Baby I work so hard just to hide my emotions
Carrie Ann, my words can't explain
The way that I feel in my heart

She's got heavy equipment
She'll turn your head in an instant
She like to rock and roll all night long

She's a one woman wrecking crew
Playing the part of an ingenue
In your personal tragedy

Veiled in a false innocence, so clever
The poison catalyst of your self destruction

She's a homewrecker
Like a real steam roller
She's gonna drive you into the ground

She's a heartbreaker
A real mischief maker
You know she'll walk away & never look back

Just a near fatal attraction
Maybe a psychotic reaction
You just can't stop yourself, right or wrong

Your tangled web of sin
Put you in the state you're in
Trapped by her passionate design

Sentenced to loneliness, forever
Destined for emptiness & down on your knees

Just a near fatal attraction
Maybe a psychotic reaction
You just can't stop yourself, right or wrong

Your mind's in disarray, left all alone to play
In the wreckage of your shattered dreams

But can you escape, no never
And there won't be any happy endings

I was waiting all alone last night
When they cancelled all remaining flights
And I was suddenly aware, I was being so unfair
To turn and run from you again

So I called you on the telephone
And I said hey girl I'm coming home
Cause I know my words were cruel
And that I acted like a fool
But I'm gonna make it all up to you

And I don't care what people say
Cause I'm gonna love you night & day
Oh baby if you still want me
Still need me, all you gotta do is let me
Walk right up to your door

I'm makin' my way back to Chicago
I'm makin' my way come rain or shine
I'm gonna find true love waiting for me
I'm gonna make it all work out for good this time

Let's go walking by the beach tonight
And watch the sun come up on Lake Shore Drive
Then I'll take you in my arms
And I'll keep you from all harm
Cause I know everything is gonna be alright

And I don't care what people say
Cause I'm gonna love you night & day
Oh baby if you still want me
Still need me, all you gotta do is let me
Just walk right up to your door

I'm makin' my way back to Chicago
I'm makin' my way come rain or shine
I'm gonna find true love waiting for me
I'm gonna make it all work out for good this time

I'm makin' my way back to Chicago
I'm makin' my way come rain or shine
I'm gonna find true love waiting for me
I'm gonna make it all work out for good
Know it's understood
I'm coming home to stay this time