TELEGRAPH ROAD

Well a long time ago came a man on a track,
walking thirty miles with a sack on his back,
and he put down his load where he thought it was the best
made a home in the wilderness.

He built a cabin and a winter store
and he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore.
The other travelers came walking down the track
and they never went further, no they never went back.

Then came the churches, then came the schools,
then came the lawyers, then came the rules,
then came the trains, and the trucks with their loads,
and the dirty old track was the telegraph road.

Then came the mines, then came the ore,
then there was the hard times, then there was a war,
telegraph sang a song about the world outside,
telegraph road goes so deep, and so wide,
like a rolling river.

And my radio says tonight it is gonna freeze,
people driving home from their factories,
there's six lanes of traffic,
three lanes moving slow.

Oh, I used to like to go to work, but they shut it down,
I got a right to go to work,
but there is no work here to be found,
yes, and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed,
we're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed,
and the birds up on the wires, and the telegraph poles,
they can always fly away from this rain and this cold,
you can hear them singing out their telegraph code all the way down the telegraph road.

Well I'd sooner forget, but I remember those nights,
yeah, life was just a bet on a race 'tween the lights,
you had your head on my shoulder, you had your hand in my hair,
now you act a little colder, like you don't seem to care,
but just believe in me baby, and I'll take you away from out of this darkness and into the day,
from there rivers of headlights, these rivers of rain,
from the anger that lives on the streets with their names,
'cos I've run every red line on memory lane, I've seen desperation explode into flames,
and I don't wanna see it again, all of these signs saying, "Sorry, but we are closed",
all the way down the telegraph road.
 

PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS

It's a mystery to me, the game commences
for the usual fee, plus expenses,
confidential information, it's in a deary,
this is my investigation, it's not a public inquiry.
I go checking out the reports, digging up the dirt,
you get to meet all sorts in this line of work,
treachery and treason, there's always an excuse for it,
and when I find the reason I still can't get used to it.
And what have you got at the end of the day,
what have you got to take away?
A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies,
blinds on the window, and a pain behind your eyes.
Scarred for life, no compensation,
private investigations.
 

INDUSTRIAL DISEASE

Warning lights are flashing down at Quality Control
somebody threw a spanner and they threw him in the hole
there's rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town
somebody blew the whistle and the walls came down
there's a meeting in the boardroom they're trying to trace the smell
there's leaking in the washroom there's a sneak in personnel
somewhere in the corridors someone was heard to sneeze
goodness me could this be Industrial Disease?

The caretaker was crucified for sleeping at his post
they're refusing to be pacified it's him they blame the most
the watchdog's got rabies the foreman's got the fleas
and everyone's concerned about Industrial Disease
there's panic on the switchboard tongues are tied in knots
some blame the management some the employees
and everybody knows it's the Industrial Disease

The work force is disgusted downs tools and walks
innocence is injured experience just talks
everyone seeks damages and everyone agrees
that these are classic symptoms of a monetary squeeze
on ITV and BBC they talk about the curse
philosophy is useless theology is worse
history boils over there's an economics freeze
sociologists invent words that mean Industrial Disease

Doctor Parkinson declared I'm not surprised to see you here
you've got smokers cough from smoking brewer's drool from drinking beer
I don't know how you came to get the Bette Davis knees
but worst of all young man you've got Industrial Disease
he wrote me a prescription he said you are depressed
but I'm glad you came to see me to get this off your chest
come back and see me later - next patient please
send in another victim of Industrial Disease

I go down to Speaker's Corner I'm thunderstruck
they got free speech, tourists, police in trucks
two men say they're Jesus one of them must be wrong
there's a protest singer singing a protest song - he says
they wanna have a war so they can keep us on our knees
they wanna have a war so they can keep their factories
they wanna have a war to stop us buying Japanese
they wanna have a war to stop Industrial Disease
they're pointing out the enemy to keep you deaf and blind
they wanna sap your energy incarcerate your mind
they give you Rule Brittania, gassy beer, page three
two weeks in Espana and Sunday striptease
meanwhile the first Jesus says I'd cure it soon
abolish Monday mornings and Friday afternoons
the other one's out on hunger strike he's dying by degrees
how come Jesus gets Industrial Disease?
 

LOVE OVER GOLD

You walk out on the high wire,
you're a dancer on thin ice,
you pay no heed to the danger,
and less to advice,
your footsteps are forbidden,
but with knowledge of your sin,
you throw your love to all the strangers,
and caution to the wind.

And you go dancing through doorways
just to see what you will find,
leaving nothing to interfere
with the crazy balance of your mind,
and when you finally reappear
at the place where you came in,
you've thrown your love to all the strangers,
and caution to the wind.

It takes love over gold
and mind over matter
to do what you do that you must,
when the things that you hold
can fall and be shattered,
or run through your fingers like dust.
 

IT NEVER RAINS

I hear the Seven Deadly Sins and the Terrible Twins came to call on you
the bigger they are babe the harder they fall on you
and you you're always the same you persevere on the same old pleasure ground
oh and it never rains around here it just comes pouring down

You had no more volunteers so you got profiteers for to help you out
with friends like that babe good friends you had to do without
and now they've taken the chains and the gears from off your merry-go-round
oh and it never rains around here it just comes pouring down
And your new Romeo was just a gigolo when he let you down
see the faster they are babe the faster they get out of town
leaving make up stains and the tears of a clown
yes and it never rains around here it just comes pouring down

Oh you were just a roller coaster memory
I don't know why I was even passing through
I saw you making a date with Destiny
when he came around here asking after you
in the shadow of the Wheel Of Fortune
you're busy trying to clear your name
you say I may be guilty yeah that may be true
but I'd be lying if I said I was to blame
see we could have been major offenders
you got a list of all the major mistakes
and he's just standing in the shadows
yes and you smile that some-on smile
of I can still hear you say as clear as the day
I'd like to make it worth your while

Ah but it's a sad reminder
when your organ grinder has to come to you for rent
and all you've got to give him
is the use of your side-show tent
yes and that's all that remains of the years
spent doing the rounds
and it never rains around here
well it just comes pouring down

Now you know what they say about beggars
you can't complain about the rules
you know what they say about beggars
you know who's the first to blame his tools
you never gave a damn about who you pick up
and leave laying bleeding on the ground
you screw people over on the way up
because you thought that you were never coming down
and he takes you out in Vaudeville Valley
with his hand up smothering your screams
and he screw you down in Tin Pan Alley
in the city of a billion dreams

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