unless otherwise noted
all lyrics written by Bernie Taupin
Turn me loose from your hands
Let me fly to distant lands
Over green fields, trees and mountains
Flowers and forest fountains
Home along the lanes of the skyway
I want to hear the pealing bells
Of distant churches sing
But most of all please free me
From this aching metal ring
And open out this cage towards the sun
from Elton John's "Skyline Pigeon"
I know it's not much
but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song
and this one's for you
from "Your Song"
There were tears in the sky
And the clouds in your eyes were just cover
For your thighs were the cushions
Of my love and yours for each other
The songs still are sung
It was fun to be young
But please don't be sad where 'ere you are
from "First Episode At Hienton"
You've hung up your great coat
and you've laid down your gun
You know the war you fought in
wasn't too much fun
And the future you're giving me
holds nothing for a gun
I've no wish to be living sixty years on
from "Sixty Years On"
(Elton turned 60 in 2007,
he opened his 60th concert at Madison Square Garden with this)
Holy Moses let us live in peace
Let us strive to find a way
to make all hatred cease
There's a man over there
what's his colour I don't care
He's my brother let us live in peace
from "Border Song"
this verse written by Elton John
In the quiet silent seconds
I turned off the light switch
And I came down to meet you
in the half light the moon left
While a cluster of night jars
sang some songs out of tune
A mantle of bright light
shone down from a room
from "Come Down In Time"
Love is the key we must turn
Truth is the flame we must burn
Freedom the lesson we must learn
from "Love Song"
lyrics written by Leslie Duncan
You're right there's so much going on
No one seems to want to know
So keep well, keep well old friend
And have another drink on me
Just ignore all the others
You've got your memories
from "Talking Old Soldiers"
For our world, the circle turns again
Throughout the year we've seen the seasons change
It's meant a lot to me to start anew
Oh the winter's cold but I'm so warm with you
from "Seasons"
And the van that comes around weekends
Selling fancy city things
Sold by the man in the trilby hat
And the whiskers spread like wings
You can hear him sing
Oh you can hear him sing
Can I put you on
people can I put you on
Tell you that I love you people
Sing a salesman's song
and put you on
from "Can I Put You On"
Blue jean baby, L.A. lady
Seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile
You'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must have seen her
Dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me
Tiny dancer in my hand
But oh how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you and you can hear me
When I say softly slowly
Hold me closer tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
you had a busy day today
from "Tiny Dancer"
Levon wears his war wound like a crown
He calls his child Jesus
'Cause he likes the name
from "Levon"
You're a song on the lips of an aging star
from "Razor Face"
Is the nightmare black
or are the windows painted?
will they come again next week
can my mind really take it?
from "Madman Across The Water"
I heard from passing renegades
Geronimo is dead
He'd been laying down his weapons
when they filled him full of lead
Now there seems no reason why
I should carry on
In this land that once was my land
I can't find a home
It's lonely and it's quiet
and the horse soldiers are coming
And I think it's time I strung my bow
and ceased my senseless running
For soon I'll find the yellow moon
along with my loved ones
Where the buffalos graze in clover fields
without the sound of guns
And the red sun sinks at last into the hills of gold
And peace to this young warrior comes with a bullet hole
from "Indian Sunset"
(I always think of John Lennon when I hear that last line)
Slow down Joe, I'm a rock and roll man
I've twiddled my thumbs in a dozen odd bands
And you ain't seen nothing till you've been
In a motel baby like the Holiday Inn
from "Holiday Inn"
But I know the way they want me
In the way they publicize
If they could turn their focus off
To the image in their eyes
from "All The Nasties"
And now I know
Spanish Harlem are not just pretty words to say
I thought I knew
But now I know that rose trees never grow in New York City
Until you've seen this trash can dream come true
You stand at the edge while people run you through
And I thank the Lord there's people out there like you
from "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters"
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
from "I'm Going To Be a Teenage Idol"
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
from "High Flying Bird"
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did
from "Candle In The Wind"
And each day I learn just a little bit more
I don't know why but I do know what for
If we're all going somewhere let's get there soon
Oh this song's got no title just words and a tune
If I was an artist who paints with his eyes
I'd study my subject and silently cry
Cry for the darkness to come down on me
For confusion to carry on turning the wheel
from "This Song Has No Title"
I'm a juvenile product of the working class
whose best friend floats in the bottom of a glass
from "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting"
Sometimes you dream
Sometimes it seems
There's nothing there at all
You just seem older than yesterday
And you're waiting for tomorrow to call
Nine o'clock mornings
Five o'clock evenings
I'd liven the pace if I could
I'd rather have ham in my sandwich than cheese
but complaining won't do any good
from "Roy Rogers"
Don't let the sun go down on me
Although I search myself
it's always someone else I see
I'd just allow a fragment of your life
to wander free
But losing everything
is like the sun going down on me
I can't find the right romantic line
But see me once and see the way I feel
Don't discard me
just because you think I mean you harm
But these cuts I have
they need love to help them heal
from "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"
(my favourite love song, period)
But they pumped you full of rifle shells
as you stepped out the door
Oh you danced in death like a marionette
on the vengeance of the law
from "Ticking"
So you see, there's men who get paid for being slaves
and men who get paid for being free
and there's men behind bars who pray for the light
and men in the suburbs who pray for the night
from "Screw You"
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
from "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy"
And it's one more beer and I don't hear you anymore
We've all gone crazy lately
My friends out there rolling round the basement floor
from "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"
As the flickering neon stands ready to fuse
the wind blows away all of yesterday's news
from "Better Off Dead"
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
Will we still be writing
In approaching years
Stifling yawns on Sundays
As the weekends disappear
from "Writing"
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
from "Curtains"
Like a corn in a field I cut you down
I threw the last punch too hard
After years of going steady
well I thought that it was time
To throw in my hand for a new set of cards
And I feel like a bullet in the gun of Robert Ford
I'm low as a paid assassin is
You know I'm cold as a hired sword
I'm so ashamed we can't patch it up
You know I can't think straight no more
You make me feel like a bullet honey in the gun of Robert Ford
from "I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)"
And you can cage the songbird
but you can't make her sing
and you can trap the free bird
but you'll have to clip her wings
Cause she'll soar like a hawk
when she flies
But she'll dive like an eagle
when she dies
from "Cage The Songbird"
If there's a God in heaven
What's He waiting for
If He can't hear the children
Then He must see the war
But it seems to me
That He leads his lambs
To the slaughter house
And not the promised land
from "If There's a God In Heaven (What's He Waiting For?)"
Take a look at me now
and take a taste of the money
I'm not in it for the bread
I'm in it for the gravy, honey
Step on the thin ice lightly
And check out the show twice nightly
'Cause I'm on the stage tonight
And if the price is right
I will amaze before the light I crave the light
Blinding white I need the light tonight
Take a look at me now
And take a look at my billing
I'm not in it as an extra
I'm in it for the killing
Inflate my ego gently
Tell them heaven sent me
'Cause I'm so expressive
and I'm so obsessed with my ego
from "Ego"
You've a certain sartorial eloquence
And a style that's almost of your own
You've got the knack of being so laid-back
It's like talking to the great Unknown
You've got a self-sufficient swept-back hairdo
Pretty certain that you've got it made
Oh your life-style shows in the clothes you chose
Sitting pretty in the masquerade
from "Sartorial Eloquence"
lyrics written by Tom Robinson
Dear God, lend a hand
Is this really what you planned
Dear God, in you we trust
Though we've failed you, don't fail us
Oh we take what we get
but we can't take much more
Do you sometimes forget
what it was you created us for, dear God
from "Dear God"
lyrics written by Gary Osborne
But when you're turtlesque, I'm a hare's breath
from "Fascist Faces"
You're the lifeline that I cling to
when I feel like giving in
when the dreams that I rely on
start to wear a little thin
from "Chloe"
lyrics written by Gary Osborne
Staring all alone
At your grace and style
Cut me to the bone
With your razor blade smile
from "Elton's Song"
lyrics written by Tom Robinson
And we are so amazed
we're crippled and we're dazed
A gardener like that one
no one can replace
And through their tears
Some say he farmed his best in younger years
But he'd have said that roots grow stronger
If only he could hear
Who lived there
He must have been a gardener that cared a lot
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop
Now we pray for rain
And with every drop that falls
We hear, we hear your name
from "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)"
in memory of John Lennon
Thanks for the midi Grishnak
And there's a word in Spanish
I don't understand
But I heard it in a film one time
spoken by the leading man
He said it with devotion
he sounded so sincere
And the words he spoke in Spanish
brought the female lead to tears
from "A Word In Spanish"
Don't it make you wanna crawl back to the womb
find a sanitarium rent yourself a room
this overload is edging me further out to sea
I need to put some distance between overkill and me
from "Goodbye Marlon Brando"
Love's like a junkie, addiction's a fact
Passion's a monkey you can't keep off your back
from "Sleeping With the Past"
You linger on my lips like confession
from "Blue Avenue"
Yesterday you came to lift me up
As light as straw and brittle as a bird
Today I weigh less than a shadow on the wall
Just one more whisper of a voice unheard
Tomorrow leave the windows open
As fear grows please hold me in your arms
Won't you help me if you can to shake this anger?
I need your gentle hands to keep me calm
'Cause I never thought I'd lose
I only thought I'd win
I never dreamed I'd feel
This fire beneath my skin
I can't believe you love me
I never thought you'd come
I guess I misjudged love
Between a father and his son
Things we never said come together
The hidden truth no longer haunting me
Tonight we touched on the things that were never spoken
That kind of understanding sets me free
"The Last Song"
Without love I wouldn't believe
In anything that lives and breathes
Without love I'd have no anger
I wouldn't believe in the right to stand here
Without love I wouldn't believe
I couldn't believe in you
And I wouldn't believe in me
Without love
from "Believe"
I was made in England like a blue Cortina
But a Yankee summer had a way about her
You had a scent for scandal, well here's my middle finger
I had forty years of pain and nothing to cling to
If you're made in England, you're built to last
You can still say 'homo' and everybody laughs
But the joke's on you, you never read the song
They all think they know but they all got it wrong
from "Made In England"
Man stands in all his glory
Sitting at the crossroads of the same old story
Man got his make-up, wears it like a mask
Hides inside a child, lives inside a glass
Man breathes his own deceit
Man worships his own defeat
from "Man"
I can hear lost youth ringing in my ears
from "You Can Make History (Young Again)"
Thanks for the midi Adam Pringle
Someday we'll live like horses
Free rein from your old iron fences
There's more ways than one to regain your senses
Break out the stalls and we'll live like horses
from "Live Like Horses"
All I need is darkness
The best of all protection
Freedom's like the stars in the sky
Alone and cold and burning
Each one keeps its distance
If only we were stars, you and I
from "Love's Got A Lot To Answer For"
I need to tell you
How you light up every second of the day
But in the moonlight
You just shine like a beacon on the bay
And I can't explain
But it's something about the way you look tonight
Takes my breath away
It's that feeling I get about you, deep inside
And I can't describe
But it's something about the way you look tonight
Takes my breath away
The way you look tonight
from "Something About The Way You Look Tonight"
Thanks for the midi Michael Boyce
Spare your heart, save your soul
Don't drag your love across the coals
Find your feet and your fortune can be told
Release, relax, let go
And hey now let's recover your soul
from "Recover Your Soul"
All the midis came from my Sounds page
Next artist: Harry Chapin
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