Elton JOHN

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

In open arms we put our trust
they put us in 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

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 the 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

Chorus

In a bright red Porsche on Sanset
I saw Steve McQueen
I guess he's just about the coolest guy
I've ever seen
And for you and for 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 ibe 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 GOTTA GO BUT YOU CAN STAY"

Pale kid* come to play
And we beand Richard Nixon say,
"I GOTTA GO BUT YOU CAN STAY"

2. Just Like Noar's Ark

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Ain't it just like Noah's ark
There's two of every kind
Pretty boys and girls in drag
Walking a fine thin line
Shaking hands and bussing cheaks
Licking there lips like they could eat
Me alive in a couple of weeks
Yea just like Noah's ark

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

And the waves are crashing around us
But we're ready for the flood
And we don't need a sign like an alive 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, little chicks
Flashing smiles, shaking them hips
Trying to hook it up for the late night shift
Here in Noah's ark

And the waves are crashing around us
And we're ready for the flood
And we don't need a sign like an alive branch
In the beak of a snow white dove
We're not as dumb as we might look
Or locked up in the dark
We can sort out the snakes from the animals
Just like Noah's ark

And we wrote it as we saw it from
the center of the stage
All access to the liars who claim they wrote a page

3. Wouldn't Have You Any Otber Way (NYÑ)

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

Turned up our collars to the ñhill 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

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 realty tike to stay
New York City I wouldn't have you
I wouldn't have you any otber way

Oh the subway rumbled underneath
Italian lights
Where Joey Gallo died
And the man on the door down at Fifty-Four'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

Chorus

And I can feel the magic
And read a million lips
And no matter what might happed
They'll never sink this ship

Extended Chorus

4. Tinderbox

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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

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
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
Showed the price of lame leads to overkill
Things are gonna have to change
Some holes along the road get filled

Chorus

Pressure's gonna cook us if we don't unlock it
Gun's 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

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
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

5. And The House Fell Down

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The sun is up and the shades are all pulled dawn
I'm more paranoid with every little sound
Like the leaf blower blowin' 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 that 1 was dead
Or curled up naked In my lover's bed
Instead I'm hanging over Hell suspended by a single thread

And I don't recalled 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 buffed and puffed, he buffed
and puffed, he buffed and puffed, he buffed
and the house fell down

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

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 buffed and puffed, he buffed and pufftd, he huffed and
puffed, he buffed and puffed,
and the house fell down

So don't knock on my door, don't try to call
I'm holed up in this room and talking to the wall
When you're high as this you think you know it all
When you're this deep in there's do place else to late

Chorus repeat

6. Blues Never Fade Away

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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
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

And how did we get so luckey ?
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 helly of the blues
And blues neverfade away
Hey hey, hey
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 why the pain never goes away

Chorus

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

And how did we get so luckey ?
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 helly of the blues
And blues neverfade away
And how did we get so luckey ?
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 helly of the blues
And blues neverfade away
Hey hey, hey
Colors run when the rain falls
Blues never fade away

7. The Bridge

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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

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 Chorus

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

Extended Chorus

8. I Must Have Lost It On The Wind

---

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 there mark
And for some I found a cure

And from one you learn something
And 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 tnirst

Chorus repeat

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 in on the wind

And if you did then I guess I must
have lost in on the wind (repeats)

9. Old'67

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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

Old '67 what a time it was
What a time of innocence
What a time we're 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

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

Chorus repeats

10. The Captain And The Kid

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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 at our hands
(Oh yeah)
She saw a mountain and 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

And you can't go back and if you try it fails
Looking up ahead I see a rutty nail
A sign banging front 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
(Oh yeah)
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 à 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 your old cowbir boots

And you can't go back and if you try it fails
Looking up ahead I see a rutty nail
A sign banging front 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

Chorus repeat

<< Across The River Thames >>

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Good taste at times I've sometimes lacked
I won't deny the truth
1 got dressed up as Donald Duck
Making up for my repressed youth
Disco balls and spandex pants
On questionable friends
Disco died but the fog still rolled

across the River Thames

Snarling they just came along
And cut us to the quick Called us a bunch oi dinosaurs
And give us a load of stick Told us that the times was changing
And all good things must end
But I'm still here and the fog still rolls

across the River Thames

Nelson's on his column
Ravens are in the Tower
Big Ben's never tost his voice
Chimes on every hour
And the fog stitl rolls off the
River Thames
The forecast calls for rain
London Bridge ain't falling down
And some things never change

The black-faced boys were holding tight
And Thatcher's in a noose
Hair got teased beyond belief
In the age of the golden goose
The new romantics claimed the throne
And we were wondenng when
But they lost their crown and

the fog still rolled across

the River Thames

Nelson's on his column
Ravens are in the Tower
Big Ben s never lost his voice
Chimes on every hour
And the fog still rolls off the
River Thames
The forecast calls for rain
London Bridge ain't falling down
And some things never change

Big bold letters screaming out
A scandal in the house
Dogs without their vocal chords
Careers going south
What the eye can't see the eye invents
The truth was meant to bend
But nothing changed and the fog still rolled

across the River Thames

Nelson's on his column
Ravens are in the Tower
Big Ben s never lost his voice
Chimes on every hour And the fog still rolls off the
River Thames
The forecast ñall for rain
London Bridge ain't fatting down
And some things never change

<< 12 >>

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The world is changing
We're getting older
Simple things are hard to find
Hope they remember
What we did here
The ones we leave behind

That's it I guess
It's been some trip
But we'll just shrug and say
It's just my jon
It's all I know
I hope we did OK

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