ACT OF WAR

ALL ACROSS THE HAVENS

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

ALL THE GIRLS LOVE ALICE

AMY

ANGELINE

ANNABELLA UMBRELLA

ARE YOU READY FOR LOVE

BABY I MISS YOU

BAD SIDE OF THE MOON

BETTER OFF DEAD

BITTER FINGERS

BLUES FOR BABY AND ME

 CAPTAIN FANTASTIC


CRY TO HEAVEN

ELDERBERRY WINE

HARMONY

HAVE MERCY ON THE CRIMINAL

HEARTACHE ALL OVER THE WORLD

HIGH FLYING BIRD

I'M GOING TO BE A TEENAGE IDOL

I NEED YOU TO TURN TO

I'VE SEEN THAT MOVIE TOO

LITTLE JEANNIE

MIDNIGHT CREEPER

 

ONE DAY AT A TIME

TEACHER I NEED YOU

TELL ME WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS

TEXAN LOVE SONG

TOWER OF BABEL

WARM LOVE IN A COLD WORLD

WE ALL FALL IN LOVE SOMETIMES

WRITING

 

 

ACT OF WAR

Duet with Millie Jackson

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Released as a UK single in June, 1985

 

This ain't no battle honey, this ain't no fight

How come you take it so hard when I stay out all night

If I take a drink, is that against the law

And if I have a good time, do you call that an act of war

Well you better believe it boy, this house is your home

I didn't build it up for you to live here on my own

And if you think it's easy to forget about me

You'd better think twice, you'd better believe it's an act of war

We're living on the front line you and me

Fighting on this battleground of misery

Oh go ahead bring on your artillery

And we'll make this an act of war

Give it all you've got `cause I'm all dug in

Keep the punches coming I can take them on the chin

Winner takes all, let the best man win

And we call it an act of war

Well I'm a man of convenience I work a long hard day

After twelve long hours ain't I got the right to play

If living together is getting in the way

Then I call that an act of war

Well if that's your game then honey two can play

I'm going on the town tonight and have some fun my way

Ain't no way baby this girl's gonna stay

I call it, I call it an act of war

And it looks like time ain't been on our side

If we could turn the clock back

We might survive this act of war

 

 

ALL ACROSS THE HAVENS

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Released as a UK B-side in January, 1969

 

The sister of sunlight

Comes to my lonely life

Bearing the crosses I hung

I hung on my lonely wife

And the anchor told me

If I prayed by the river

That the sweet sound of water

Would always go with her

All across the havens to the waterfall

They told me I would meet her there

Inside those icy walls

But how on earth in this universe

Can they forgive me of my pains

For all across the havens

I must stumble locked in chains

Then the mother of mercy

Showed me her stable

And told me you would be safe

Safe in her cradle

And the waterfall opened

And the water withdrew

Leaving me standing

On a road leading through

 

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Jump Up

 

All quiet on the Western Front, nobody saw

A youth asleep in the foreign soil, planted by the war

Feel the pulse of human blood pouring forth

See the stems of Europe bend under force

All quiet

All quiet

All quiet on the Western Front

So tired of this garden's grief, nobody cares

Old kin kiss the small white cross, their only souvenir

See the Prussian offense fly, weren't we grand

To place the feel of cold sharp steel in their hands

It's gone all quiet on the Western Front, male angels sigh

Ghosts float in a flooded trench as Germany dies

Fever reaps the flowers of France, fair-haired boys

String the harps to Victory's voice, joyous noise

 

ALL THE GIRLS LOVE ALICE

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

 

Raised to be a lady by the golden rule

Alice was the spawn of a public school

With a double barrel name in the back of her brain

And a simple case of Mummy-doesn't-love-me blues

Reality it seems was just a dream

She couldn't get it on with the boys on the scene

But what do you expect from a chick who's just sixteen

And hey, hey, hey, you know what I mean

All the young girls love Alice

Tender young Alice they say

Come over and see me

Come over and please me

Alice it's my turn today

All the young girls love Alice

Tender young Alice they say

If I give you my number

Will you promise to call me

Wait till my husband's away

Poor little darling with a chip out of her heart

It's like acting in a movie when you got the wrong part

Getting your kicks in another girl's bed

And it was only last Tuesday they found you in the subway dead

And who could you call your friends down in Soho

One or two middle-aged dykes in a Go-Go

And what do you expect from a sixteen year old yo-yo

And hey, hey, hey, oh don't you know

 

AMY

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Honky Château

 

Tread on my face if you like little lady

Turn me inside out if you have to baby

But don't you cross me off your list

I am young and I ain't never been kissed

Never been kissed by a lady called Amy

You're far out, you're fab and insane

A woman of the world, it's quite plain

My dad told me Amy's your name

Said he'd break my neck if I played your game

But he can bust my neck `cause I love you all the same

Amy I know you don't have to show your affection

`Cause the big boys like you and to you I'm an infection

So if you don't want me around

I think I'll run along and drown

You can't want this bum in town Amy

I'm beaten on the streets `cause I loves you

I watch you go to work in the summer

I don't whistle at you down the street

I would if I could but I can't whistle you see

Amy I may not be James Dean

Amy I may not be nineteen

And I may still be in romper boots and jeans

But Amy you're the girl that wrecks my dreams

 

ANGELINE

Music by Elton John and Alan Carvell

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Leather Jackets

 

Well I'm work shy, I'm wild-eyed

So shut that door when the baby cries

And keep me well fed, give me warm bread

Lay my body on a feather bed

And spoil me, Angeline

Get to work when the whistle screams, Angeline

Maybe someday, some way

Somewhere in the future there's more pay

Give me more cash, bring me sour mash

Peel me a grape and fetch my stash

And bite me, Angeline

Let me use you like a sex machine, Angeline

You've got to swing that hammer, punch that card

Angeline I love you when you work so hard

Swing that hammer and sew my jeans

Angeline just loves it when I treat her mean

Well I talk tough, I act rough

Lay still honey I can't get enough

And keep your nose clean, let me be

On your knees when you speak to me

And trust me, Angeline

And talk real dirty and I'll make you scream Angeline

 

ANNABELLA UMBERELLA

Written by Adrien Avon and Demon Spiro

Never released

 

This year, next year, sometime, never

Will we ever get together

I keep hoping things are gonna change

Colours changing red to yellow

yesterday you said hello

And from now on I'll never be the same

Annabella Umberella

Standing on the corner when the rain comes down

That's the way I'll always think of you

When I first met you

Annabella Umberella, child

I wanna get to know you better

Get to know your name

And yet I know to me you'll always be the same

Sunshine sunshine go away

Come again another day

Raindrops fall, us both together

How I love the rainy weather

 

ARE YOU READY FOR LOVE

Written by Thom Bell, Leroy Bell and Casey James

Released as a UK single in 1979

 

Catch a star if you can

Wish for something special

Let it be me, my love is free

Sing a song to yourself

Think of someone listening

One melody, you're all for me

I'll write a symphony just for you and me

If you let me love you, I'll paint a masterpiece

Just for you to see

If you let me love you, let me love you

Are you ready, are you ready for love

Yes I am

Are you, are you ready, are you ready for love

Yes I am

Are you, are you ready, are you ready for love

You're the one like the sun

Shine your love around me

You'll always be the one for me

Say the word and I'll be there

Loving you forever

Don't let me go

Just say it's so

We'll hear the music ring from the mountain tops

To the valley below us

We'll serenade the world

With a lullaby so the angels will know us

Angels will know us

 

BABY I MISS YOU

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Never Released

 

Time goes by, it seems so long

But it was only days ago when things were going wrong

What happened to the love, to the love we knew

The days we shared were so short and so few

And baby I miss you

Baby I miss you

Remember when it didn't rain

Will I ever see the sun again

And baby I miss you

Baby I miss you

And I only wish that I could share your love again

I thought about leaving for some new place

Somewhere where I, I don't have to see your face

'Cause seeing your face only brings me out in tears

Thinking of the love I've wasted all through the years

 

BAD SIDE OF THE MOON

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Released as a UK B-side in March, 1970

 

It seems as though I've lived my life

On the bad side of the moon

To stir your dregs in sickness still

Without the rustic spoon

Common people live with me

Where the light has never shone

And the hermits flock like hummingbirds

To speak in a foreign tongue

I'm a light world away

From the people who make me stay

Sitting on the bad side of the moon

There ain't no need for watchdogs here

To justify our ways

We live our life in manacles

The main cause of our stay

Exiled here from other worlds

My sentence comes too soon

Why should I be made to pay

On the bad side of the moon

 

BETTER OFF DEAD

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy

 

There was a face on a hoarding that someone had drawn on

And just enough time for the night to pass by without warning

Away in the distance there's a blue flashing light

Someone's in trouble somewhere tonight

As the flickering neon stands ready to fuse

The wind blows away all of yesterday's news

Well they've locked up their daughters and they battened the hatches

They always could find us but they never could catch us

Through the grease streaked windows of an all night cafe

We watched the arrested get taken away

And that cigarette haze has ecology beat

As the whores and the drunks filed in from the street

`Cause the steams in the boiler the coals in the fire

If you ask how I am then I'll just say inspired

If the thorn of a rose is the thorn in your side

Then you're better off dead if you haven't yet died

 

BITTER FINGERS

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy

 

I'm going on the circuit, I'm doing all the clubs

And I really need a song boys to stir those workers up

And get their wives to sing it with me just like in the pubs

When I worked the good old pubs in Stepney

Oh could you knock a line or two together for a friend

Sentimental tear inducing with a happy end

And we need a tune to open our season at Southend

Can you help us

It's hard to write a song with bitter fingers

So much to prove, so few to tell you why

Those old die-hards in Denmark Street start laughing

At the keyboard player's hollow haunted eyes

It seems to me a change is really needed

I'm sick of tra-la-las and la-de-das

No more long days hacking hunks of garbage

Bitter fingers never swung on swinging stars, swinging stars

I like the warm blue flame, the hazy heat it brings

It loosens up the muscles and forces you to sing

You know it's just another hit and run from the tin pan alley twins

And there's a chance that one day you might write a standard lads

So churn them out quick and fast and we'll still pat your backs

`Cause we need what we can get to launch another dozen acts

Are you working

 

BLUES FOR BABY AND ME

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

 

Your old man got mad when I told him we were leaving

He cursed and he raged and he swore at the ceiling

He called you his child, said honey get wise to his game

He'll get you in trouble I know it, those bums are all the same

There's a greyhound outside in the lane, it's waiting for us

So tell him goodbye, we gotta go west on that bus

And it's all over now

Don't you worry no more

Gonna go west to the sea

The greyhound is swaying

And the radio is playing

Some blues for baby and me

And the highway looks like it never did

Lord it looks so sweet and so free

And I can't forget that trip to the west

Singing blues for baby and me

Saw your hands trembling, your eyes opened in surprise

It's ninety in the shade babe, and there ain't a cloud in the sky

I called you my child, said honey now this is our game

There's two of us to play it and I'm happy to be home again

There's a greyhound outside in the lane, it's waiting for us

So tell him goodbye, we gotta go west on that bus

 

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy

 

Captain Fantastic raised and regimented, hardly a hero

Just someone his mother might know

Very clearly a case for corn flakes and classics

"Two teas both with sugar please"

In the back of an alley

While little Dirt Cowboys turned brown in their saddles

Sweet chocolate biscuits and red rosy apples in summer

For it's hay make and "Hey mom, do the papers say anything good.

Are there chances in life for little Dirt Cowboys

Should I make my way out of my home in the woods"

Brown Dirt Cowboy, still green and growing

City slick Captain

Fantastic the feedback

The honey the hive could be holding

For there's weak winged young sparrows that starve in the winter

Broken young children on the wheels of the winners

And the sixty-eight summer festival wallflowers are thinning

For cheap easy meals and hardly a home on the range

Too hot for the band with a desperate desire for change

We've thrown in the towel too many times

Out for the count and when we're down

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

From the end of the world to your town

And all this talk of Jesus coming back to see us

Couldn't fool us

For we were spinning out our lines walking on the wire

Hand in hand went music and the rhyme

The Captain and the Kid stepping in the ring

From here on sonny sonny sonny, it's a long and lonely climb

 

CRY TO HEAVEN

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Ice On Fire

 

I found a black beret on the street today

It was lying in the gutter all torn

There's a white flag flying on a tall building

But the kids just watch the storm

Their dirty faces pressed on the windows

Shattered glass before their eyes

There's a mad dog barking in a burned out subway

Where the sniper sleeps at night

No birthday songs to sing again

Just bricks and stones to give them

Wrap them up in your father's flags

And let them cry to heaven

There are many graves by a cold lake

As the beds were when your babies are born

And your rag doll sits with a permanent grin

But the kids just watch the storm

I saw a black cat tease a white mouse

Until he killed it with his claws

Seems a lot of countries do the same thing

Before they go to war

 

CURTAINS

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy

 

I used to know this old scarecrow

He was my song, my joy and sorrow

Cast alone between the furrows

Of a field no longer sown by anyone

I held a dandelion

That said the time had come

To leave upon the wind

Not to return

When summer burned the earth again

Cultivate the freshest flower

This garden ever grew

Beneath these branches

I once wrote such childish words for you

But that's okay

There's treasure children always seek to find

And just like us

You must have had

A once upon a time

 

ELDERBERRY WINE

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

 

There's a fly in the window

A dog in the yard

And a year since I saw you

There's a trunk in the corner

I keep all my letters

My bills and demands I keep too

Well I can't help thinking

About the times

You were a wife of mine

You aimed to please me

Cooked black-eyed peas-me

Made elderberry wine

Drunk all the time

Feeling fine on elderberry wine

Those were the days

We'd lay in the haze

Forget depressive times

How can I ever get it together

Without a wife in line

To pick the crop and get me hot

On elderberry wine

Round a tree in the summer

A fire in the fall

Flat out when they couldn't stand

The bottle went round

Like a woman down south

Passed on from hand to hand

 

(GOTTA GET A) MEAL TICKET

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy

 

I can hound you if I need to

Sip your brandy from a crystal shoe

In the corner, in the corner

While the others climb reaching dizzy heights

The world's in front of me in black and white

I'm on the bottom line, I'm on the bottom line

I'd have a cardiac if I had such luck

Lucky losers, lucky losers landing on skid row

Landing on skid row

While the Diamond Jims

And the Kings road pimps

Breath heavy in their brand new clothes

I'm on the bottom line, I'm on the bottom line

And I gotta get a meal ticket

To survive you need a meal ticket

To stay alive you need a meal ticket

Feel no pain, no pain

No regret, no regret

When the line's been signed

You're someone else

Do yourself a favor, the meal ticket does the rest

Shake a hand if you have to

Trust in us and we will love you anyway, anyway

Don't leave us stranded in the jungle

With fifty percent that's hard to handle

Ain't that so, ain't that so

 

HARMONY

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

 

Hello, baby hello

Haven't seen your face for a while

Have you quit doing time for me

Or are you still the same spoiled child

Hello, I said hello

Is this the only place you thought to go

Am I the only man you ever had

Or am I just the last surviving friend that you know

Harmony and me

We're pretty good company

Looking for an island

In our boat upon the sea

Harmony, gee I really love you

And I want to love you forever

And dream of the never, never, never leaving harmony

Hello, baby hello

Open up your heart and let your feelings flow

You're not unlucky knowing me

Keeping the speed real slow

In any case I set my own pace

By stealing the show, say hello, hello

 

HAVE MERCY ON THE CRIMINAL

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

 

Have you heard the dogs at night

Somewhere on the hill

Chasing some poor criminal

And I guess they're out to kill

Oh there must be shackles on his feet

And mother in his eyes

Stumbling through the devil-dark

With the hound pack in full cry

Have mercy on the criminal

Who is running from the law

Are you blind to the winds of change

Don't you hear him any more

Praying Lord you got to help me

I am never gonna sin again

Just take these chains from around my legs

Sweet Jesus I'll be your friend

Now have you ever seen the white teeth gleam

While you lie on a cold damp ground

You're taking in the face of a rifle butt

While the wardens hold you down

And you've never seen a friend in years

Oh it turns your heart to stone

You jump the walls and the dogs run free

And the grave's gonna be your home

 

HEARTACHE ALL OVER THE WORLD

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Leather Jackets

 

Well I'm running away

From this house on the hill

There's a devil inside

sitting on the window sill

And it's a wild Friday night

And I'm all on my own

I knocked on every door in town

There ain't one little girl that's home

And everybody's got a date

And the ones that ain't are tired

What the hell do you do on a weekend honey

When your heart's on fire

And you can go from Tokyo to Rome

Looking for a girl

But it looks to me like the weekend means

Heartache all over the world

Girls, girls, girls

Have pity on me

Oh it looks to me like the weekend means

Heartache, heartache all over the world

He's got lipstick on his collar

She's got fishnets on her legs

I'm at home and I've got nothing

Just a cold and aching head

There must be something dirty

Just blame it on the magazines

Don't read that trash it'll drive you crazy

`Cause the cops invade your dreams

And everybody's got a date

And the one's that ain't are tired

What the hell do you do on a weekend honey

When your heart's on fire

 

HIGH FLYING BIRD

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

 

You wore a little cross of gold around your neck

I saw it as you flew between my reason

Like a raven in the night time when you left

I wear a chain upon my wrist that bears no name

You touched it and you wore it

And you kept it in your pillow all the same

My high-flying bird has flown from out my arms

I thought myself her keeper

She thought I meant her harm

She thought I was the archer

A weather man of words

But I could never shoot down

My high-flying bird

The white walls of your dressing room are stained in scarlet red

You bled upon the cold stone like a young man

In the foreign field of death

Wouldn't it be wonderful is all I heard you say

You never closed your eyes at night and learned to love daylight

Instead you moved away

 

I'M GOING TO BE A TEENAGE IDOL

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

 

Well there's slim times when my words won't rhyme

And the hills I face are a long hard climb

I just sit cross legged with my old guitar

It kind of makes me feel like a rock and roll star

Well it makes me laugh Lord it makes me cry

And I think for once let me just get high

Let me get electric put a silk suit on

Turn my old guitar into a tommy gun

And root-toot-shoot myself to fame

Every kid alive gonna know my name

An overnight phenomenon like there's never been

A motivated supersonic king of the scene

I'll be a teenage idol, just give me a break

I'm gonna be a teenage idol no matter how long it takes

You can't imagine what it means to me

I'm gonna grab myself a place in history

A teenage idol that's what I'm gonna be

Well life is short and the world is rough

And if you're gonna boogie boy you got to be tough

Nobody knows if I'm dead or alive

I just drink myself to sleep each night

And so I pray to the teenage god of rock

If I make it big let me stay on top

You got to cut me loose from this one room dive

Put me on the ladder keep this boy alive

 

I NEED YOU TO TURN TO

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Elton John

 

You're not a ship to carry my life

You are nailed to my love in many lonely nights

I've strayed from the cottages and found myself here

For I need your love your love protects my fears

And I wonder sometimes and I know I'm unkind

But I need you to turn to when I act so blind

And I need you to turn to when I lose control

You're my guardian angel who keeps out the cold

Did you paint your smile on, well I said I knew

That my reason for living was for loving you

We're related in feeling but you're high above

You're pure and you're gentle with the grace of a dove

 

I'VE SEEN THAT MOVIE TOO

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

 

I can see by your eyes you must be lying

When you think I don't have a clue

Baby you're crazy

If you think that you can fool me

Because I've seen that movie too

The one where the players are acting surprised

Saying love's just a four letter word

Between forcing smiles, with the knives in their eyes

Well their actions become so absurd

So keep your auditions for somebody

Who hasn't got so much to lose

`Cause you can tell by the lines I'm reciting

That I've seen that movie too

It's a habit I have, I don't get pushed around

Stop twinkling your star like you do

I'm not the blue print for all of your B films

Because I've seen that movie too

 

LITTLE JEANNIE

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Gary Osborne

Available on the album 21 At 33

 

Oh little Jeannie, you got so much love, little Jeannie

And you take it where it strikes and give it to the likes of me

Oh little Jeannie, she got so much love, little Jeannie

So I see you when I can, you make me all a man can be

And I want you to be my acrobat, I want you to be my lover

Oh there were others who would treat you cruel

And oh little Jeannie, you were always someone's fool

Little Jeannie, you got so much time, little Jeannie

Though you've grown beyond your years, you still retain the fears of youth

Oh little Jeannie, you got so much time, little Jeannie

But you're burning it up so fast, searching for some lasting truth

And I want you to be my acrobat, I want you to be my lover

Oh there were others who would treat you cruel

But oh Jeannie, I will always be your fool

And I want you to be my acrobat, I want you to be my lover

Oh there were others, and I've known quite a few

But oh oh Jeannie, I'm still in love with you

Stepped into my life from a bad dream

Making the life that I had seem suddenly shiny and new

Oh Jeannie I'm so in love with you

Stepped into my life from a bad dream

 

MIDNIGHT CREEPER

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

Walk a mile in my tennis shoes

Tina Turner gave me the highway blues

But I don't love nobody but you honey

I'm true rat for the things I done

Second cousin to a son of a gun

I'm gonna wipe out your mama if she puts me on honey

`Cause I'm a midnight creeper

Ain't gonna lose no sleep over you

When there's a nightmare I'm there

Tempting you to blow a fuse

Well there's no more sleeping

When I'm midnight creeping over you

Watch out honey, watch out honey

Watch the things you do

Long haired ladies well they look so fine

Locked in my cellar full of cheap red wine

But, I don't think those ladies they really mind honey

I still don't know why you hate me so

A little bit of fun never stopped no show

Well I just want to loosen up my soul honey

 

ONE DAY AT A TIME

Written by John Lennon

Released as a UK B-side in November, 1974

You are my weakness

You are my friend

Nothing I have in the world

Makes better sense

`Cause I'm the fish and you're the sea

When we're together

Or when we're apart

There's never a space in-between

The beat of our hearts

`Cause I'm the apple and you're the tree

One day at a time

Is all we do

One day at a time

Is good for you, you, you

You are my woman

I am your man

Nothing else matters at all

Now I understand

That I'm the door and you're the key

And every morning

I wake in your smile

Feeling your breath on my face

And the love in your eyes

`Cause I'm the honey and you're the bee

 

TEACHER I NEED YOU

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

I was sitting in the classroom

Trying to look intelligent

In case the teacher looked at me

She was long and she was lean

She's a middle-aged dream

And that lady means the whole world to me

It's a natural achievement

Conquering my homework

With her image pounding in my brain

She's an inspiration

For my graduation

And she helps to keep the classroom sane

Oh teacher I need you like a little child

You got something in you to drive a schoolboy wild

You give me education in the lovesick blues

Help me get straight come out and say

Teacher I, teacher I, teacher I, Teacher I need you

I have to write a letter

Tell about my feelings

Just to let her know the scene

Focus my attention

On some further education

In connection with the birdies and the bees

So I'm sitting in the classroom

I'm looking like a zombie

I'm waiting for the bell to ring

I've got John Wayne stances

I've got Erroll Flynn advances

And it doesn't mean a doggone thing

 

TELL ME WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy

There's a dusty old gutter he's lying in now

He's blind and he's old

And there's a bottle that rolls down the road

Me I'm young and I'm so wild

And I still feel the need

Of your apron strings once in a while

For there's taxi cabs hooting

But I can't be foot-loose forever

My suitcase it's a cheap one

My darling she's a dear one

My head's feeling light as a feather

Take my ears and tell me when the whistle blows

Wake me up and tell me when the whistle blows

Long lost and lonely boy

you're just a black sheep going home

I want to feel your wheels of steel

Underneath my itching heels

Take my money

Tell me when the whistle blows

Part of me asked the young man for the time

With a cool vacant stare of undue concern

He said nine

It's not so bad but I really do love the land

And rather all this than those diamante lovers

In Hyde Park holding hands

Blowing heat through my fingers

Trying to kill off this cold

Will the street kids remember

Can I still shoot a fast cue

Has this country kid still got his soul

 

TEXAN LOVE SONG

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

I heard from a friend you'd been messing around

With a cute little thing I'd been dating uptown

Well I don't know if I like that idea much

Well you'd better stay clear I might start acting rough

You out of town guys sure think you're real keen

Think all of us boys are homespun and green

But that's wrong my friend so get this through your head

We're tough and we're Texan with necks good and red

So it's Ki yi yippie yi yi

You long hairs are sure gonna die

Our American home was clean till you came

And kids still respected the president's name

And the eagle still flew in the sky

Hearts filled with national pride

Then you came along with your drug-crazy songs

Goddamit you're all gonna die

How dare you sit there and drink all our beer

Oh it's made for us workers who sweat spit and swear

The minds of our daughters are poisoned by you

With your communistic politics and them negro blues

Well I'm gonna quit talking and take action now

Run all of you fairies clean out of this town

Oh I'm dog tired of watching you mess up our lives

Spending the summertime naturally high

 

TOWER OF BABEL

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy

Snow, cement and ivory young towers

Someone called us Babylon

Those hungry hunters

Tracking down the hours

But where were all your shoulders when we cried

Were the darlings on the sideline

Dreaming up such cherished lies

To whisper in your ear before you die

It's party time for the guys in the tower of Babel

Sodom meet Gomorrah, Cain meet Abel

Have a ball y'all

See the letches crawl

With the call girls under the table

Watch them dig their graves

`Cause Jesus don't save the guys

In the tower of Babel

Watch them dig their graves

`Cause Jesus don't save the guys

In the tower of Babel, no no no

Junk, angel, this closet's always stacked

The dealers in the basement

Filling your prescription

For a brand new heart attack

But where were all your shoulders when we cried

Were the doctors in attendance

Saying how they felt so sick inside

Or was it just the scalpel blade that lied

 

WARM LOVE IN A COLD WORLD

Lyrics by Pete Bellotte

Music by Pete Bellotte, Stefan Wisnet and Gunther Moll

Available on the album Victim Of Love

City boy, city girl

Arm in arm in our city world

A lot of love, a lot of hope

Hope our love don't go up in smoke

I feel so good, yeah I feel so fine

I know I'm yours and I know you're mine

Feeling good, yeah I'm feeling fine

Now you're mine, now you're mine, now you're mine

Warm love in a cold world

Warm love in a cold world

Hope we're gonna make it

Hope we're gonna make it

Warm love in a cold world

Warm love in a cold world

Girl we gotta make it

Girl we gotta make it

Warm love in a cold world

sure we're gonna make it

Sure we're gonna make it

Sure we're gonna make it

We're gonna make it

Never knew, but thanks to you

I'm finding out just what love can do

You picked me up, I've come alive

I'm seeing life in another light

Feel so good, yeah I feel so fine

I know I'm yours and I know you're mine

Feeling good, yeah I'm feeling fine

Now you're mine, now you're mine, now you're mine

 

WE ALL FALL IN LOVE SOMETIMES

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy

Wise men say

It looks like rain today

It crackled on the speakers

And trickled down the sleepy subway trains

For heavy eyes could hardly hold us

Aching legs that often told us

It's all worth it

We all fall in love sometimes

The full moon's bright

And starlight filled the evening

We wrote it and I played it

Something happened it's so strange this feeling

Naive notions that were childish

Simple tunes that tried to hide it

But when it comes

We all fall in love sometimes

Did we, didn't we, should we couldn't we

I'm not sure `cause sometimes we're so blind

Struggling through the day

When even your best friend says

Don't you find

We all fall in love sometimes

And only passing time

Could kill the boredom we acquired

Running with the losers for a while

But our Empty Sky was filled with laughter

Just before the flood

Painting worried faces with a smile

 

WRITING

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy

Is there anything left

Maybe steak and eggs

Waking up to washing up

Making up your bed

Lazy days my razor blade

Could use a better edge

It's enough to make you laugh

Relax in a nice cool bath

Inspiration for navigation

Of our new found craft

I know you and you know me

It's always half and half

And we were oh oh, so you know

Not the kind to dawdle

Will the things we wrote today

Sound as good tomorrow

We will still be writing

In approaching years

Stifling yawns on Sundays

As the weekends disappear

We could stretch our legs if we'd half a mind

But don't disturb us if you hear us trying

To instigate the structure of another line or two

Cause writing's lighting up

And I like life enough to see it through