| Disc 1 | ||||||
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| 1. |
| 3:20 | 
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The subway station's closed again
Sleeps beneath its veil of rain My footprints broken trail behind Steals the nightlights from my mind The dark deserted streets then clear Today has lived and died in here So I leave the chapel gloom To find the shelter of my tiny room But it's alright while the lights of the city shine so bright It's all right till the last winding train fades from sight Then alone in my room I must stay to lose or win While these wild bedsitter images come back to hem me in The paneled patterns on the door Chase shivering shadows to the floor Upon the pillow worn and thin The memories of hopes begin The carpet with its flowers in shreds Expires a foot before my bed The crack that won't return again Advancing through my broken window pane But it's alright while the lights of the city shine so bright It's all right till the last winding train fades from sight Then alone in my room I must stay to lose or win While these wild bedsitter images come back to hem me in The friends I've left back home all write With laughing words that warm my sight Saying "Tell us, how's the city life?" And I reply and say just fine And so you see I can't go back Until I either win or crack I'm standing in a one way street The stage is set The story incomplete But it's alright while the lights of the city shine so bright It's alright till the last winding train fades from sight Then alone in my room I must stay to lose or win While these wild bedsitter images come back to hem me in |
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| 2. |
| 3:59 |
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Most of the better bred
Woollen toys have gone to bed And the teddy bear is a-sleeping in the cupboard And the wooden soldiers all And the rubber bouncing ball Are list'ning to the tales of mother Hubbard But the fairy lights are dark On the Christmas tree as restlessly I stand here forgotten and alone I've been too long on the floor, I can't stay here any more So Jenny won't you please take me home. Oh the statues that I see Are made out of blackest ivory But I pass them by never guessing of their meaning And a million voices cry As I walk across the sky Though it's restless here, why it's only in-betweening For the journey that I'm on Is incomplete so to my feet I must rise now and travel on alone Ah, but if you've got some time to spend In between now and the end Oh Jenny won't you please take me home. Now almost every word that I've said that you have heard Hides another thought left unspoken And if I may not reach it through the gutter of my speech Then it best be left unsaid than lie unbroken And if you wish to see, then from time to time Look in my eyes Oh the gold is not far beneath the stone If that will not say, it doesn't matter anyway Jenny won't you please take me home. |
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| 3. |
| 3:41 |
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'Oh I come from Pittsburgh to study astrology,'
She said as she stood on my instep, 'I could show you New York with a walk between Fourth Street and Nine.' Then out of her coat taking seven harmonicas She sat down to play on a doorstep saying 'Come back to my place I will show you the stars and the signs' So I followed her into the black lands Where the window frames peel and flake And the old Jewish face behind the lace Even now trying to get to see what's cooking Just John the Baptist in the park getting laid thinking there's no-one looking And its eighty degrees and I'm down on my knees in Brooklyn Her house was a dusty collection of rusty Confusion with landings and tunnels And leaning bookcases and spaces and faces and things Where twenty-five Puerto Ricans, Manhattan Mohicans And Jewish-Italian Pawnbrokers Lead their theatrical lives in their rooms in the wings While outside in the black lands The violent day runs wild And the black and white minstrels run through the crazy Alleys while the cops go booking And ruthless toothless agents sneak around and there's no-one looking And it's eighty degrees and I'm down on my knees in Brooklyn And oh, I'm back in the city again You can tell by the smell of the hamburger stand in the rain She spoke of astrology while muttering apologies For coffee that tasted of hot dogs I said 'That's OK, mine was cold anyway, and just grand' Then she lay on the bed while the radio fed Us with records and adverts for cat food And I looked at her, holding my thoughts in the palm of my hand And outside in the black lands The evening came and went And the bums in the street begging money for one last drink Are hanging round the liquor stores trying to get a foot in And the girl from Pittsburgh and I made love on a mattress with the new moon looking And in the cool evening breeze I was down on my knees in Brooklyn |
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| 4. |
| 3:46 |
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Shots split the night, a bullet lodged in his brain
He must have died instantly, he felt no pain A crowd quickly gathered to the feast of the gun Waiting for the ambulance and cops to come Hm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm Sirens wail in the concrete Hm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm Electric Los Angeles sunset, the sunset, the sunset, oh-o-oh Headlight lit the faces by the tabernacle door Gazing at the bloodstains on the damp sidewalk As the crowd turned to go, a man was heard to say "He must have had it comin' to him anyway" Hm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm Blood wagon rolls through the dragnet Hm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm Electric Los Angeles sunset, the sunset, the sunset, oh-o-oh Cadillacs roll through the smoggy perfume The buildings are choking on oxygen fumes Evangelists praying in rented rooms, in the afternoon Which way do the signposts read African eyes in the sunrise The gates of the city are rusted over and mouldering The violence of the evening decays into the night While shadows press like moths against the neon light Movie queues diffuse into the Cinerama haze While libertines read pornozines in street cafes Hm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm The madman swings in the pulpit Hm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm Electric Los Angeles sunset, the sunset, the sunset, oh-o-oh |
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| 5. |
| 4:45 |
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Prince Louis Battenberg is burning the Admiralty lights down low
Silently sifting through papers sealed with a crown Admiral Lord Fisher is writing to Churchill, calling for more Dreadnoughts The houses in Hackney are all falling down And my grandmother sits on the beach in the days before the war Young girl writing her diary, while time seems to pause Watching the waves as they come one by one to die on the shore Kissing the feet of England Oh the lights of Saint Petersburg come on as usual Although the air seems charged with a strangeness of late, yet there's nothing to touch And the Tsar in his great Winter Palace has called for the foreign news An archduke was shot down in Bosnia, but nothing much And my grandmother sits before the mirror in the days before the war Smiling a secret smile as she goes to the door And the young man rides off in his carriage, homeward once more And the sun sets gently on England Ah the day we decided to drive down to Worthing, it rained and rained Giving us only a minute to stand by the sea And crunching my way through the shingles, it seemed there was nothing changed Though the jetty was maybe more scarred that I'd known it to be And Mandi and I stood and stared at the overcast sky Where ten years ago we had stood, my Grandfather and I And the waves still rushed in as they had the year that he died And it seemed that my lifetime was shrunken and lost in the tide As it rose and fell on the side of England Prince Louis Battenberg is burning the Admiralty lights |
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| 6. |
| 2:00 |
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Said the apple to the orange:
"Oh I wanted you to come Close to me and kiss me to the core Then you might know me like no other orange Has ever done before" |
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| 7. |
| 13:08 | 
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| 8. |
| 3:20 |
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The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border The wind whips up the waves so loud The ghost moon sails among the clouds Turns the rifles into silver on the border On my wall the colours of the maps are running From Africa the winds they talk of changes coming The torches flare up in the night The hand that sets the farms alight Has spread the word to those who're waiting on the border In the village where I grew up Nothing seems the same Still you never see the change from day to day And no-one notices the customs slip away Late last night the rain was knocking at my window I moved across the darkened room and in the lampglow I thought I saw down in the street The spirit of the century Telling us that we're all standing on the border In the islands where I grew up Nothing seems the same It's just the patterns that remain An empty shell But there's a strangeness in the air you feel too well The fishing boats go out across the evening water Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border The wind whips up the waves so loud The ghost moon sails among the clouds Turns the rifles into silver on the border On the border On the border On the border |
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| 9. |
| 4:21 |
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With your photographs of Kitty Hawk
And the biplanes on your wall You were always Amy Johnson From the time that you were small. No schoolroom kept you grounded While your thoughts could get away You were taking off in Tiger Moths Your wings against the brush-strokes of the day Are you there? On the tarmac with the winter in your hair By the empty hangar doors, you stop and stare Leave the oil-drums behind you, they won't care Oh, are you there? Oh, you wrapped me up in a leather coat And you took me for a ride We were drifting with the tail-wind When the runway came in sight The clouds came up to gather us And the cockpit turned to white When I looked, the sky was empty I suppose you never saw the landing-lights Are you there? In your jacket with the grease stain and the tear Caught up in the slipstream of the dare The compass rose will guide you anywhere, Oh, are you there? The sun comes up on Icarus as the night-birds sail away And lights the maps and diagrams That Leonardo made You can see Faith, Hope and Charity As they bank above the fields You can join the flying circus You can touch the morning air against your wheels Are you there? Do you have a thought for me that you can share? Oh I never thought you'd take me unawares Just call me if you ever need repairs Oh, are you there? |
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| 10. |
| 6:41 |
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Year Of The Cat - Al Stewart
On a morning from a Bogart movie In a country where they turn back time You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre Contemplating a crime She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running Like a watercolour in the rain Don't bother asking for explanations She'll just tell you that she came In the year of the cat. She doesn't give you time for questions As she locks up your arm in hers And you follow 'till your sense of which direction Completely disappears By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls There's a hidden door she leads you to These days, she says, I feel my life Just like a river running through The year of the cat She looks at you so cooly And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea She comes in incense and patchouli So you take her, to find what's waiting inside The year of the cat. Well morning comes and you're still with her And the bus and the tourists are gone And you've thrown away the choice and lost your ticket So you have to stay on But the drum-beat strains of the night remain In the rhythm of the new-born day You know sometime you're bound to leave her BUt for now you're going to stay In the year of the cat. |
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| 11. |
| 3:41 |
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| 12. |
| 6:37 |
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| 13. |
| 5:08 |
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Before the phone hits the receiver
You're halfway to the door The voice said 'get out while you can, There's just ten minutes, nothing more' Time only for the essentials Better gather them and run The false name inside the passport, The gold bars and the gun And once again they've come out of the past And though your mind is cool your heart is beating fast You've been through it all before Each time you wish a little more that you could ask What do you want from me? What do you need from me? There's no rest for the running man Why can't you let him be?' It's a long and twisting journey From the sweeping northern plains To the outcrops of the jungle Bowed beneath the tropic rains In the customs hall the officer Takes you to one side And his eyes reveal no feeling As you hand over the bribe And once again you've bought a little time And once again you're fading out of sight Still the fox is growing older As he calls over his shoulder to the night: What do you want from me? What do you need from me? There's no rest for the running man Why can't you let him be? Here, come over here Beneath a sympathetic moon We'll sit and talk over old times without a fear Another beer, from the cafes of the night The tumbling rhythms of guitars ring loud and clear One by one they've nailed the others But you always got away What it is that keeps you just that step ahead No one can say In one last raid the agents Of the dawn break down the door Of a house where you were standing Maybe just an hour before And still the thread continues to unwind You take the hidden roads that only you can find And should they come upon your tracks There's just a question hanging back you left behind What do you want from me? What do you need from me? No rest for the running man Why can't you let him be? What do you want from me? What do you need from me? |
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| 14. |
| 2:44 |
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And I think of you now
As a dream that I had long ago In a kingdom lost in time In a forest of evening The archer is bending a bow And I see you bring him bread and wine Down the legions of years The invaders have taken this land And bent you to their will And the memories fade of the ancients And all that they had Though the magic lingers round you still Oh, who would walk the stony roads of Merlin's time? And keep the watch along the borderline And who would hear the legends passed in song and rhyme? Upon the shepherd pipes of Merlin's time |
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| 15. |
| 4:27 |
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Nothing that's forced can ever be right
If it doesn't come naturally, leave it That's what she said as she turned out the light And we bent our backs as slaves of the night Then she lowered her guard and showed me the scars She got from trying to fight Saying oh, you'd better believe it. Well I'm up to my neck in the crumbling wreckage Of all that I wanted from life When I looked for respect all I got was neglect Though I swallowed the line as a sign of the times But dealing a jack from the back of the pack They said-"You lose again" Oh, I said, who needs it? Well don't get me wrong now I tried to get on With the jokers that got in my way And I put on a smile and I tried all the while to be straight But they just wanted more all the time and I'm sure That you know what I mean when I say That I'm sick of the touch and there's only so much you can take. Well nothing that's real is ever for free And you just have to pay for it sometime She said it before, she said it to me I suppose she believed there was nothing to see But the same old four imaginary walls She built for living inside I said oh, you just can't mean it Well there was never a doubt that she had to get out she was just looking around for a way In the pit of the night there was nowhere to hide any more She was out on a limb, she was reaching for things That she wanted, but just couldn't say And she had to be sure that she wouldn't get caught like before. Well nothing that's forced can ever be right If it doesn't come naturally, leave it That's what she said as she turned out the light And she may have been wrong, and she may have been right But I woke with the frost, and noticed she'd lost The veil that covered her eyes I said oh, you can leave it. |
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| Disc 2 | ||||||
| 1. |
| 6:08 |
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When the cock crows
And the wind blows And the primrose of dawn Is at your windows Moving through the deep You chase dreams across your sleep Scarecrows, waiting at your door In the last days of the century Leaning from your balcony You said this is how it's meant to be Can't you feel it in the air See that light come shining down All the way to chinatown See it come from miles around Reflecting everywhere You wore black clothes You quoted shakespeare You still make me shake When you get this near You look like a still from Cecil B. DeMille When I saw you waiting at my door In the last days of the century Leaning from your balcony You say changes come so rapidly You can feel them in the air Whoever you pretend to be You must face yourself eventually In the last days of the century Who knows who we were In the last days of the century Leaning from your balcony You said this is how it's meant to be Can't you feel it in the air See that light come shining down All the way to chinatown See it shine from miles around Reflecting everywhere |
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| 2. |
| 4:44 |
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| 3. |
| 8:16 |
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In the sapling years of the post war world
In an English market town I do believe we travelled in schoolboy blue The cap upon the crown Books on knee Our faces pressed against the dusty railway carriage panes As all our lives went rolling on the clicking wheels of trains The school years passed like eternity And at last were left behind And it seemed the city was calling me To see what I might find Almost grown, I stood before horizons made of dreams I think I stole a kiss or two while rolling on the clicking wheels of trains Trains All our lives were a whistle stop affair No ties or chains Throwing words like fireworks in the air Not much remains A photograph in your memory Through the coloured lens of time All our lives were just a smudge of smoke against the sky The silver rails spread far and wide Through the nineteenth century Some straight and true, some serpentine From the cities to the sea And out of sight Of those who rode in style there worked the military mind On through the night to plot and chart the twisting paths of trains On the day they buried Jean Juarez World War One broke free Like an angry river overflowing Its banks impatiently While mile on mile The soldiers filled the railway stations arteries and veins I see them now go laughing on the clicking wheels of trains Trains Rolling off to the front Across the narrow Russian gauge Weeks turn into months And the enthusiasm wanes Sacrifices in seas of mud, and still you don't know why All their lives are just a puff of smoke against the sky Then came surrender, then came the peace Then revolution out of the east Then came the crash, then came the tears Then came the thirties, the nightmare years Then came the same thing over again Mad as the moon That watches over the plain Oh, driven insane But oh what kind of trains are these That I never saw before Snatching up the refugees From the ghettoes of the war To stand confused With all their worldly goods, beneath the watching guard's disdain As young and old go rolling on the clicking wheels of trains And the driver only does this job With vodka in his coat And he turns around and he makes a sign With his hand across his throat For days on end Through sun and snow, the destination still remains the same For those who ride with death above the clicking wheels of trains Trains What became of the innocence They had in childhood games Painted red or blue When I was young they all had names Who'll remember the ones who only rode in them to die All their lives are just a smudge of smoke against the sky Now forty years have come and gone And I'm far away from there And I ride the Amtrak from NewYork City To Philadelphia And there's a man to bring you food and drink And sometimes passengers exchange A smile or two rolling on the humming wheels But I can't tell you if it's them Or if it's only me But I believe when they look outside They don't see what I see Over there Beyond the trees it seems that I can just make out the stained Fields of Poland calling out to all the passing trains Trains I suppose that there's nothing In this life remains the same Everything is governed By the losses and the gains Still sometimes I get caught up in the past I can't say why All our lives are just a smudge of smoke Or just a breath of wind against the sky |
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| 4. |
| 4:25 |
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Meet me at the station underneath the clock
Carry an umbrella, no need to talk The man in the homburg, hiding in the fog Will be watching Get yourself a ticket, go through the gate At seven forty-five precisely, don't be late If anybody follows don't hesitate Keep on walking And take the night train to Munich Rumbling down the track After half an hour in the restaurant car Look for the conductor And there will be a stain on his tunic A paper underneath his arm Then you'd better pray that he doesn't look away Or you'll never, never, never come back. When you get the paper take a look inside On page twenty-seven there's a photo of a bride Underneath the story of a man who died In Morocco Memorize the article word for word The man in the homburg understands the code Make sure the conversation isn't overheard They're around you And take the night train to Munich Rumbling down the track After half an hour in the restaurant car Look for the conductor And there will be a stain on his tunic A paper underneath his arm Then you'd better pray that he doesn't look away Or you'll never, never, never come back. I really wouldn't ask if there was anybody else But I now you've got the knack of taking care of yourself And they don't know your face so there won't be anyone Looking for you When you get to Munich we'll be waiting in the car Don't look around, just walk straight out If you don't show, I'm sorry for the pain I caused you Upon the night train to Munich Rumbling down the track After half an hour in the restaurant car Look for the conductor And there will be a stain on his tunic A paper underneath his arm Then you'd better pray that he doesn't look away Or you'll never, never, never come back |
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| 5. |
| 3:42 |
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When the great collector found her
She was just a girl She rang a chord inside him And he stole her to the centre of his world Many wished they could be in her shoes But she surely did know how to have the blues He tried to make a star of her She never did know why And though she could have told him There were some things that his money couldn't buy She never knew a way to refuse But she surely did know how to have the blues They say tomorrow's such a long, long time They say tomorrow never comes Whatever happened to this dream of mine Count the days as they run He built himself a castle On a hill above a bay Where Marion the Chatelaine Charmed every single one who came to stay Some never knew, while others read the clues That she surely did know how to have the blues They say tomorrow's such a long, long time They say tomorrow never comes Whatever happened to this dream of mine Count the days as they run When all the parties ended In the castle on the hill The paintings and the statues stood alone And all the corridors grew still She got caught between the shadows and the booze And she surely did know how to have the blues |
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| 6. |
| 4:15 |
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Party hat and satin dress
Silver paper curled in her long black hair Tapping one small elegant shoe in time Oh, the way she plays with them Smile at one, then dance with another Pretty soon they're forming up a line And she's laughing, laughing into 1939 Oh, laughing, laughing into 1939 Oh, the party draws them in It breathes and moves To a life its own In its arms it's gathering all time From the dark he watches her Moving in and out of the bobbing crowd If she even notices, she gives no sign And she's laughing, laughing into 1939 Oh, laughing, laughing into 1939 For tonight is New Year's Eve Uncork your spirits and welcome it in Who knows what it's got up its sleeve Can't wait for it all to begin Stand by the girl with the purple balloon The look in her eyes just lights up the room In the corner of her smile She'll be seeing you soon Under a mistletoe moon Out on to the balcony Come the King and Queen And the crowd go wild He's a little bit nervous But that's just fine And they're laughing, laughing into 1939 Oh, laughing, laughing into 1939 |
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| 7. |
| 2:58 |
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| 8. |
| 4:34 |
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| 9. |
| 3:08 |
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| 10. |
| 3:00 |
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How pleasant to know Mr. Lear
How pleasant to know at the end of the day he's near With a portfolio that daily features diverse creatures You open the book and it's true The world is a lot more mysterious than we knew Round every corner unusual things are prone to wander When I was a young man I was oft-times at the zoo To trace the visages and forms of parrots and cockatoos It's over the hill now he goes Pausing a while with the Pobble who has no toes For your perusal, Victorian days are so unsual Oh my aged Uncle Arly, sitting on a heap of barley On his nosehis faithful cricket In his hat a railway ticket But his shoes were far too tight How pleasant to know Mr. Lear In Egypt, the first day of spring You're painting a watercolor,hoping the light will bring Guided by pens and inks, the pyramids and palms and sphinx When I was an old man, I had a cat named Foss Now he's gone I wander on With this unbearable sense of loss How pleasant to know Mr. Lear How pleasant to know at the end of the day he's near And if you should find him His world is dancing close behind him |
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| 11. |
| 3:07 |
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When I get even more old than I am now
I'll have a house overlooking the water I'll read all the books that I never got 'round to And pile my suitcases up in the corner The lights of the city they blink off and on again Names in my memory are there, then they're gone again Albums of photographs spread on the floor again I'll spend my evenings with Katherine of Oregon I'll fill my garage up with things I've no use for Obsolete knick-knacks that there's no excuse for I'll turn my back on the world's grand illusions Take my delights in the simplest amusements The lights of the city they blink off and on again Names in my memory are there, then they're gone again Albums of photographs spread on the floor again I'll spend my evenings with Katherine of Oregon I'll wear my clothes with their colors all clashing They'll be so old that they'll come back in fashion I'll sit on the beach with my paper wrapped luncheon I'll enjoy being the ancient curmudgeon The lights of the city they blink off and on again Names in my memory are there then they're gone again I'll have a jukebox and play Lonnie Donegan And I'll spend my evenings with Katherine of Oregon |
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| 12. |
| 4:00 |
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| 13. |
| 5:48 |
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| 14. |
| 3:17 |
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| 15. |
| 8:47 |
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They crossed over the border the hour before dawn
moving in lines through the day Most of our planes were destroyed on the ground where they lay Waiting for orders we held in the wood Word from the front never came By evening the sound of the gunfire was miles away I softly move through the shadows, slip away through the trees Crossing their lines in the mist in the fields on our hands and our knees And all that i ever Was able to see The fire in the air, glowing red Silhouetting the smoke on the breeze All summer they drove us back through the Ukraine Smolensk and Viasma soon fell By Autumn we stood with our backs to the town of Orel Closer and closer to Moscow they come Riding the wind like a bell General Guderian stands at the crest of the hill Winter brought with the rains, oceans of mud filled the roads Gluing the tracks of their tanks to the ground, while the skies filled with snow And all that I ever Was able to see The fire in the air, glowing red Silhouetting the snow on the breeze (Ah, Ah , Ah) x4 (Ah, Ah, Ah) - all thru bridge In the footsteps of Napoleon, the shadow figures stagger through the winter Falling back before the gates of Moscow, standing in the wings like an avenger And far away behind their lines, the partisans are stirring in the forest Coming unexpectedly upon their outpost, growing like a promise You'll never know, you'll never know, which way to turn, which way to look you'll never see us As we steal into the blackness of the night you'll never know, you'll never hear us And evening sings in a voice of amber, the dawn is surely coming The morning road leads to Stalingrad, and the sky is softly humming Two broken tigers on fire in the night Flicker their souls to the wind We wait in the lines for the final approach to begin It's been almost four years that I've carried a gun At home, it will alomst be spring The flames of the tiger are lighting the road to Berlin I quickly move through the ruins that bow to the ground The old men and children they send out to face us, they can't slow us down And all that I ever Was able to see The eyes of the city are opening Now it's the end of a dream (Ah. Ah, Ah) x4 (Ah, Ah, Ah) thru this section I'm coming home, I'm coming home , now you can taste it in the wind the war is over And I listen to the clicking of the train wheels as we roll across the border And now they ask about the time that i was caught behind their time and taken prisoner They only held me for a day, a lucky break i say They turn and listen closer I'll never know, I'll never know, why I was taken from the line with all the others to board a special train and journey deep into the heart of holy Russia And it's cold and damp in the transit camp and the air is still and sullen and the pale sun of Octobe whispers the snow will soon be coming And I wonder when, I'll be home again and the morning answers never And the evening sighs and the steely, Russian skies go on, forever... |
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