The Lyric Chain

[beagle]

Riding on the City of New Orleans,
Illinois Central, monday morning rail,
fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,
three conductors, twenty-five sacks of mail.
All along the southbound Odyssey
the train pulls out of Kankakee
and rolls along the houses, farms and fields,
passing towns that had no names
and freight yards full of old black men
and the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

Good morning America, how are you?
Say don't you know me, I'm your native son.
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

Dealin' card games with the old man in the club car,
penny a point and no one's keepin' score,
pass the paper bag that holds the bottle,
you can feel the wheels grumblin' neath the floor.
And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
ride their father's magic carpet made of steel
mothers with their babies asleep
are rockin' to the gentle beat
and the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.

Good morning America, how are you?
Say don't you know me, I'm your native son.
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

Night-time on the City of New Orleans
changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee
halfway home, we'll be there by morning
through the Mississippi darkness rollin' down to the sea.
But all the towns and people seem to fade into a bad dream
and the steel rail hasn't heard the news
the conductor sings his songs again,
the passengers will please refrain,
this train's got the disappearin' railroad blues.

Good night America, how are you?
Say don't you know me, I'm your native son.
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.


Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans (Goodman)

[Swatopluk]

Willie Nelson - On The Road again Lyrics
Album: Stars & Guitars

On the road again -
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is making music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again

And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again -
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way

And our way
is on the road again.
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is makin' music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again

Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends

Insisting that the world keep turning our way

And our way
is on the road again.
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is makin' music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again.
And I can't wait to get on the road again.

[beagle]

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-o-one
I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on
Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind
Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on
Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind
Everyone I know, everywhere I go
People need some reason to believe
I don't know about anyone but me
If it takes all night, that'll be all right
If I can get you to smile before I leave
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too
Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind
Honey you really tempt me
You know the way you look so kind
I'd love to stick around but I'm running behind
You know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find
Running into the sun but I'm running behind


Jackson-Browne - Running on Empty

(gather from that You Tube link it's been politically hijacked since I first knew it in the 1970s. )

[Swatopluk]

We started down this road together
It was paved with hope and dreams of forever
We've been coasting for a while and you act
Like nothing's wrong
But even I can tell when the wheels
Are coming off

What isn't taken care of falls apart
Now we've got a pair of neglected broken hearts
We may get another mile or two
Before somebody walks
But even I can tell when the wheels are coming off

CHORUS:
You've got to help me fix this
Oh it's time to face the facts
We can't go on like we have been
And it's too late for turning back
When it comes down to what makes love work
I'll admit I'm lost
But even I can tell when the wheels are coming off
I'll admit I'm lost

CHORUS

When it comes down to what makes love work
I'll admit I'm lost
But even I can tell when the wheels are coming off

Lee Ann Womack - When the wheels are coming off

[beagle]

I looked at you,
You looked me,
I smiled at you,
You smiled at me.

And we're on our way.
No, we can't turn back, babe.
Yeah, we're on our way
And we can't turn back
'Cause it's too late, too late,
Too late, too late, too late.

And we're on our way.
No, we can't turn back, babe.
Yeah, we're on our way
And we can't turn back, yeah, yeah.
C'mon, yeah!

I walked with you,
You walked with me,
I talked to you
You talked to me.

And we're on our way.
No we can't turn back, yeah.
Yeah, we're on our way
And we can't turn back, yeah.
'Cause it's too late, too late,
Too late, too late, too late.

And we're on our way.
No we can't turn back.
Yeah, we're on our way
And we can't turn back.
'Cause it's too late, too late,
Too late, too late, too late...


The Doors - I Looked at You

[Swatopluk]

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear,
Ill state my case, of which Im certain.

Ive lived a life thats full.
Ive traveled each and evry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, Ive had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

Ive loved, Ive laughed and cried.
Ive had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

Frank Sinatra - My Way

[beagle]

I woke up today in London
As the plane was touching down
All I could think about was Monday
Maybe I'd be back around
If this keeps me away much longer
I don't know what I will do
You've got to understand it's a hard life,
that I'm going through

And when the night falls in around me
I don't think I'll make it through
Ill use your light to guide my way
Cuz all I think about is you

L A is getting kind of crazy
New York's getting kind of cold
I keep my head from getting lazy
I just can't wait to get back home

And all these days I spend away
Ill make up for this I swear
I need your love to hold me up
When it's all too much to bear

And when the night falls in around me
I don't think I'll make it through
Ill use your light to guide my way
Cuz all I think about is you

And all these days I spend away
Ill make up for this I swear
I need your love to hold me up
When it's all too much to bear

And when the night falls in around me
I don't think I'll make it through
Use your light to guide the way

Cuz all I think about is you


3 Doors Down - Landing in London

[Swatopluk]

Have you seen the old man
In the closed-down market
Kicking up the paper,
with his worn out shoes?
In his eyes you see no pride
And held loosely at his side
Yesterday's paper telling yesterday's news

So how can you tell me you're lonely,
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old girl
Who walks the streets of London
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags?
She's no time for talking,
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home in two carrier bags.

Chorus

In the all night cafe
At a quarter past eleven,
Same old man is sitting there on his own
Looking at the world
Over the rim of his tea-cup,
Each tea last an hour
Then he wanders home alone

Chorus

And have you seen the old man
Outside the seaman's mission
Memory fading with
The medal ribbons that he wears.
In our winter city,
The rain cries a little pity
For one more forgotten hero
And a world that doesn't care

Chorus

Ralph McTell - Streets of London

[beagle]

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!

Pink Floyd - Shine on You Crazy Diamond

(Think that's the right link, no sound here...)

[Swatopluk]

OK, as you probably expected, not much choice here 

{VERSE 1}
Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies.
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she's gone.

{CHORUS}
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Ah... Ah...

{VERSE 2}
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain,
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies.
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,
That grow so incredibly high.

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,
And you're gone.

{CHORUS}

Picture yourself on a train in a station,
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties.
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile,
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

{CHORUS REPEATED AND FADED}

[pieces o nine]

Diamond Girl, you sure do shine.
Glad I found you, glad you're mine.
Oh my love, you're like a precious stone,
part of earth where heaven has rained on.
Makes no difference where you are.
Day or nighttime, you're like a shinin' star.
And how could I shine without you,
when it's about you that I am?

Diamond Girl, roamin' wild.
Such a rare thing, radiant child.
I could never find, another one like you.
Part of me is deep down inside you.
Can't you feel the whole world a-turin'.
We are real, and we are a-burnin'.
Diamond Girl, now that I've found you,
it's about you that I am.

Diamond Girl, you sure do shine.
Diamond Girl, you sure do shine.
Diamond Girl, you sure do shine.
Diamond Girl, you sure do shine.

ⓒ Seals & Crofts 1973

[beagle]

Every time I see you something happens to me
like a chain reaction between you and me

My heart starts missing a beat
My heart starts missing a beat
every time
Oh oh oh, every time

If I didn't love you
I would look around for someone else
but every time I see you
you have the same effect

My heart starts missing a beat
My heart starts missing a beat
every time
Oh oh oh, every time

Every time I hear your heart beat next to me
I'm in love with you
I mean what I say
I'm in love with you
and you don't know
what it means to be with you

Every time I see you
no matter what we do
there's a strange reaction
Can you feel it too?

My heart starts missing a beat
My heart starts missing a beat
every time
Oh oh oh, every time
Oh oh oh

Every time I hear your heart beat next to me
I'm in love with you
I mean what I say
I'm in love with you
and you don't know
what it means to be with you

Oh oh oh, every time
Oh oh oh, every time


Pet Shop Boys - Heart (Featuring Ian Mckellen as a vampire )

[Swatopluk]

Who can say where the road goes,
Where the day flows, only time?
And who can say if your love grows,
As your hearth chose, only time?

Who can say why your heart sights,
As your live flies, only time?
And who can say why your heart cries
when your love lies, only time?

Who can say when the roads meet,
That love might be ,in your heart?
and who can say when the day sleeps,
and the night keeps all your heart?
Night keeps all your heart.....

Who can say if your love groves,
As your heart chose, only time?
And who can say where the road goes
Where the day flows, only time?

Who knows? Only time
Who knows? Only time

Enya - Only Time

[beagle]

Who can say why your heart sights,
As your live flies, only time?

I'm not sure outsourcing the lyrics transcription is entirely working...




The rusted chains of prison moons
Are shattered by the sun.
I walk a road, horizons change
The tournament's begun.
The purple piper plays his tune,
The choir softly sing;
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue,
For the court of the crimson king.

The keeper of the city keys
Put shutters on the dreams.
I wait outside the pilgrims door
With insufficient schemes.
The black queen chants
The funeral march,
The cracked brass bells will ring;
To summon back the fire witch
To the court of the crimson king.

The gardener plants an evergreen
Whilst trampling on a flower.
I chase the wind of a prism ship
To taste the sweet and sour.
The pattern juggler lifts his hand;
The orchestra begin.
As slowly turns the grinding wheel
In the court of the crimson king.

On soft grey mornings widows cry
The wise men share a joke;
I run to grasp divining signs
To satisfy the hoax.
The yellow jester does not play
But gentle pulls the strings
And smiles as the puppets dance
In the court of the crimson king.


King Crimson - The Court of the Crimson King

[pieces o nine]

Love soft as an easy chair
Love fresh as the morning air
One love that is shared by two
I have found with you

Like a rose under the april snow
I was always certain love would grow
Love ageless and evergreen
Seldom seen by two

You and I will make each night a first
Every day a beginning
Spirits rise and their dance is unrehearsed
They warm and excite us, cause we have the brightest love

Two lives that shine as one
Morning glory and midnight sun
Time weve learned to sail above
Time wont change the meaning of one love
Ageless and ever evergreen


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
ⓒ Paul Williams & Barbra Streisand: Evergreen