(Charlie Whitney/Roger Chapman)
Sunset that's small as the sea waves,
Raindrops that sparkle like gems.
Look at the world as a picture,
Scene through the eye of a lens.
Of colors and hills of the rainbow,
Suddenly everything blends.
Forests incredibly glowing,
Gleams in a mystical light.
Grace of the mountains are standing,
Cloud top a shimmering white
A petticoat pedestal of flowers,
Suddenly everything's right.
Here on fields of grass and soft lace,
Maybe just because I'm all too blue . . ..
--
"Gypsy Woman"
(Charlie Whitney/Roger Chapman)
Well I said, tell me, gypsy woman,
Tell me what you see in your crystal ball.
Well I said, tell me, gypsy woman,
Tell me what you see in your crystal ball.
Tell me about my baby,
Does she really love me at all?
Well I said, tell me, gypsy woman,
Just what am I supposed to do?
Well I said, tell me, gypsy woman,
Just what am I supposed to do?
Do I need a mojo?
Do I need a hex to see me through?
Well this is what I say . . .
Well I said, tell me gypsy woman,
Tell me what the future lies ahead..
Well I said, tell me gypsy woman,
Tell me what the future lies ahead.
She said, "Before I tell you your future boy,
You've got to cross my palm with bread."
--
"Hometown"
(Charlie Whitney/Roger Chapman)
Grass is gone,
There's only concrete to walk upon.
The motorway has been through and gone,
There's nothing here left to see.
Corner shop,
All that's left is an empty plot
Making room for an office block.
It's just a sign of the change of times.
Hometown, everything has been changed around.
Buildings so high, can't even spy
The sun going down.
It looks cold,
I see no sight of a barber's pole.
Even that one has been sold
To the city men with their "Vacant" signs.
How strange,
People thinking that I have changed,
But as it happens, I'm just the same,
It's just the cut of the clothes I wear.
Hometown, everything has been changed around.
Buildings so high, can't even spy
The sun going down.
--
"No Mule's Fool"
(Charlie Whitney/Roger Chapman)
A dusty day in this old town,
A hazy yellow eye looks down,
A buzzing bee's the only lazy sound.
I take grass, he hits the hay,
The two of us drift through the day,
A butterfly, a sigh, and it's flick away.
I know we're lazy, lots of people say so,
But one day they're gonna see
We're only doing whatever makes us happy.
We're sitting here, me and my mule,
We make our own rules, and it's cool.
I know we're lazy, lots of people say so
But one day they're gonna see, see, see,
We're only doing whatever makes us happy.
We're sitting here, me and my mule,
We're nobody's fool, and it's cool.
I close my eyes, yeah, I feel all right,
Must be close to 95.
Got my shade from a good old hat that's made from hide.
One more day in God's good sun,
We won't move for anyone.
Spend your lazy days and ways just turning on.
I'm looking down, there's my old mule,
A stubborn nag, but no, no one's fool,
He's my only friend and he's cool.
My old mule,
Nobody's fool.
No, no no, nobody's fool,
My old mule.
--
"Good Friend Of Mine"
(Charlie Whitney/Roger Chapman)
Well I heard that the world you have travelled,
News came by on the grapevine.
So I hope you don't seem to be simple, no,
Cause you were a good friend of mine.
We were just friends back in school days,
We shared cigarettes, girls and wine.
You got lucky, came into some money.
You were a good friend of mine.
You know I left school and earned money,
Things went by more worse than fine.
But you could afford to be educated,
You were a good friend of mine.
Said, I worked like a slave 'til my dad died,
My mother and me, we went crying.
We still prayed out to the chaplain, Lord,
You were a good friend of mine.
Me, I married my wife in the kitchen,
All our food, it came off the bread line.
I guess you're what they call a gay bachelor, yeah.
Anyway, you're still a good friend of mine.
Now you hear me, we will be together,
We're gonna go to your place or to mine.
We need to live and be happy and healthy,
And of course you're a good friend of mine.
I said we're healthy, my, my, my,
You're still a good friend of mine.
--
"Today"
(Charlie Whitney/Roger Chapman/John Weider)
It could be near you,
It should be clear too.
Bend your way,
Today.
One thing we're showing,
We know it's growing.
Bend your way,
Today, today.
We'll keep on trying,
We'll keep on crying.
Bend your way,
Today, today.
Today,
Welcome today . . ..
--
"Song For Lots"
(Charlie Whitney/Roger Chapman)
Once I lived in green grass,
An open country view,
Now it's just a power block and
Above, it's residue.
Gone are songs of songbirds,
Spring and the summer too,
Just rows and rows of terraced slums
With demolition dew.
Yes, what I'd give,
If I could go back to the place
Where I used to live.
The city smells of money,
The town folk bring me down,
Hustling for their passing games,
A business battleground.
Yes, what I'd give,
If I could go back to the place
Where I used to live,
I used to live.
--
"Strange Band" (studio version)
(Charlie Whitney/Roger Chapman/John Williamson)
Dog and his master, took out together
Dog and his master, took out together
Heading due west, away from the east,
Walking the road, leading a blind man,
Staff in his hand, and a dog that could see.
Strange looking band were we.
Man and his hubcaps, flashing the highway
Shielding his eyes, from the heat of the sun,
A wife, name of Maisy, who's driving him crazy,
Convertible mind closed permanently.
Strange looking band were we.
Sun on the hills hold a negative figure,
Walking the road, leading a blind man,
Staff in his hand, and a dog that could see.
Strange looking band were we.
Man and his hubcaps, flashing the highway
Shielding his eyes, from the heat of the sun,
A wife, name of Maisy, who's driving him crazy,
Convertible mind closed permanently.
Strange looking band were we.
Sun on the hills hold a negative figure,
Someone sits alone 'neath the shade of a tree,
But way down the line, a car's lost its shine,
While Maisy still whines about the heat and the fleas.
Strange looking band were we.
(REPEAT SECOND VERSE)
--
"In My Own Time"
(REPEAT SECOND VERSE)
--
"In My Own Time"
Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh,
Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh.
Lay down easy, stars in my eyes,
Try not telling too many lies
Wake up feeling not foolish or wise,
And life goes with me, no matter what size.
Now some seek Jesus, or flags they can wave,
Won't touch nothing, unless it's been saved.
But I say your neighbor deserves much more faith,
And answer to yourself when you misbehave.
(CHORUS)
You may think I'm wasting my time,
Think what you think, you know I don't mind.
But if you don't pick up what I choose to find,
Oh, I'll be with you, in my own time.
I'll be with you, in my own time.
Mine is my freedom, you take, I'll defy,
Laugh till I'm tired, sing 'til I'm dry,
'Cause life is a moment you pass with a sigh,
Never comes back sure as yesterday's by.
(CHORUS)
In my own time.
I'll be with you, in my own time . . ..
--
"Seasons"
(Charlie Whitney/Roger Chapman)
I looked for the sun but it couldn't get through,
Gray clouds above have blocked out its view.
That sound in my ear, the rain is quite near
To color the fields green for the start of the year.
Now spring is approaching, I feel it draw near,
The warmth is replacing the cold.
The small ones awake from the winter's cold break,
Feeling so bold.
One first of the month, but the end of the May,
The sun's golden shadows, they lent from the day.
It's harvesting time as I walk through the fields,
The skies of the winter, the summer has killed.
Now summer has gone, left not a word,
The dark nights quickly draw on.
The wind blows the trees bare of their leaves,
Winter's begun . . ..
--
"The Rockin' R's"
(Charlie Whitney/Roger Chapman)
Now don't you stop, Mr. Record Jock,
Gotta get up and dance again.
See the babe with the shapely leg,
Well I got her, mate.
Said she's really hooked, and gettin' all shook up,
So I just keep on singin',
You keep rockin' and we'll keep boppin',
We'll show you the way.
(CHORUS)
We're slipping and sliding,
Floating and gliding,
Me and my baby, we're all set to ride.
We're rolling the coaster, gettin' hotter than toast, yeah,
Honey gonna get in that a-high-heel step in that rock 'n' roll stride.
She's a blue jean queen, and I'm a rock machine,
We're shaking our makers now.
Gee it's hot, can we keep it up,
Goin' round and around.
Records stopped 'cause it's twelve o'clock,
And the band's taking over now.
Music fuels my blue suede shoes,
Couldn't stop if I tried.
(CHORUS)
(REPEAT SECOND VERSE)
(REPEAT CHORUS TWICE)
--
"Stop This Car"
(Charlie Whitney/Roger Chapman)
(SPOKEN INTRO)
Lots of dreams blew away in the wind,
But they were fun at the time to begin.
And there were just one or two that did come on through,
So I guess, overall, I did win.
All the loves that went by with a song,
And if love is a song, I see the wrong.
Pretty faces I knew, that I promised so true,
Well I wonder do they think of me too?
There were times that I felt insincere,
There were moments of doubt and of fear.
There were times in my life when I broke down and cried,
And I paid for my lies with my tears.
La la la, la la la, la la la . . .
--
"Drink To You"
(Jim Cregan)
Well, sometimes I wanna blow my brains out
When I think I'm getting near the end.
Will you light the fire behind my eyes?
Will you be there when I need a friend?
I had a friend who was a clown and dancer,
He could make us laugh, all right.
For his final trick, he shot himself
In his lonely room one night.
(CHORUS)
So for all of you who are passin' on
In a time of life's long fight,
As you lie in bed with your achin' head
And you're staring at the light,
It's for you I'm going to drink,
For you I'm going to drink tonight.
Drink to you,
Drink to you.
(REPEAT CHORUS)
Tragedy, he's a-steadfast, yeah,
Like a lightning bolt from hell.
Let yourself go down, it comes around,
Crack your empty shell.
(REPEAT CHORUS)
I'm gonna drink,
I'm gonna drink to you . . ..
