Burning Up Rubber (Mick Brady)
When I ran out on you
I just took off down the road
I didn’t know where I was going
Just any way the wind was blowing
Since then I’ve been running blind
I didn’t find what I thought I’d find
I’ve been running round in circles
But I never got you off my mind
Now I’m burning up rubber
On the road straight back to you
I won’t be taking any detours
I’m coming right through
I’ve been off the beaten track
And down a hundred cul-de-sacs
Now I’m burning up rubber
On the road straight back to you
I didn’t know what I was doing
Didn’t know what I was getting into
I’ve been burned and bruised
I feel like I’m black and blue
Now all I wanna do is come home
I know I’ll never make it alone
It took me way too long to find out what I should have known
We Should Have Known Better (Mick Brady)
Thinking back to the days when we were just kids
I remember so well all the things that we did
A long time ago when times were tough
We didn’t have much, we always had enough:
Cowboy pictures every week at The Shack
The good guys, the bad guys, The Girl and The Chap
All the way home acting out what we saw
We were bad, we were mean, we were quick on the draw
That was a time and that was a place
When the world turned around at a different pace
We grew up between the canal and the river
We thought we were poor but we should have known better
Going down to the church to confession each week
Grim preachers preaching at the children’s retreat
Little Noelie died when he was just seven
They told all the kids that he’d gone to heaven
Summer evenings spent hangin’ round in The Swings
Or heading down The Wall to go for a swim
Games on the streets until well after dark
Putting on a show in somebody’s backyard
First kisses kissed by the railway line
Falling in love for the very first time
Teasie teased the boys in her corner shop
Sitting at the counter showing her stocking tops
Frankie left the country, went to work in The States
Billy went Down Under, wrote back it was great
It didn’t take long till the gang was all gone
We’d all grown up, it was time to move on
She Used To Be A Girl With A Future (Mick Brady)
She’s not gonna hang around
To try and please someone
She’s out there on the road now
Out there having fun
She’s got herself a big ol’ Harley
She’s got her skirt above her knee
She’s revving up, she’s letting go
Determined that she’s gonna be free
She used to be a girl with a future
Now she’s a woman with a past
She could’ve been a mover and a shaker
Now she’s moving on real fast
She’s older and she’s wiser
She’s got nothing left to prove
She’s been round the block a time or two
This lady’s paid her dues
She says that she’s not going grey
She’s says she’s silver blonde
She says that she don’t give a damn
Tomorrow she’s gonna be gone
There’s a time for taking chances
There’s a time when you play it cool
She knows she’s waited long enough
Now she’s got herself an attitude
Ancient Feelings (Mick Brady)
You’re on your way, out on your own
You’re grown up now, you know where you’re going
But I think about you all of the time
Got your face on rotation going round in my mind
I know you’ve gotta learn to dance
You’re gonna take every precious chance
You wanna stand on your own two feet
You’ve gotta move to your own beat
Ancient feelings in my blood
Stronger than faith, deeper than love
These feelings got me night and day
These ancient feelings
I remember things you used to say
I think of games we used to play
And I’m counting the days till you come home
I’m keeping a watch on the telephone
But tomorrow’s dreams are no use today
Sometimes I feel I’m stuck halfway
Between what’s to come and what’s gone past
And the present drifts away too fast
The Man Who Invented Swimming (Mick Brady)
Here’s to the man who invented swimming
From all of the men and all of the women
Who’ve taken a plunge in the sea or the pool
In trunks, in bikinis, shorts and in the nude
Nobody knows where he got the idea
But it sure turned out to be a winner
It made the world a much better place
For the amusement of the human race
Here’s to the man who invented laughter
Just what prehistoric jokers were after
Now we’ve sitcoms and standups and comedy clubs
We’ve got pantos and satire and telling jokes in the pub
Here’s to the girl who invented singing
Starting off from humble beginnings
We’ve got tenors, sopranos, altos and choirs
We’ve cantatas and doo-wop and sing-songs at campfires
What about the pair who invented kissing?
Till then no one knew the fun they were missing
Now everyone’s at it, on the neck and the eyes
On the cheeks and the lips and other places besides
Life's Too Good (Mick Brady)
When I was just a baby sitting in my pram
Sucking on a bottle, eating bread and jam
It was warm and cosy and I felt great
Thought this world was the coolest place
Daddy used to bounce me on his knee
Momma used to pick me up and cuddle me
Neighbours coming round going goo-goo-goo
There wasn’t much of nothing that I had to do
At an early age, I guess you could say, I sensed it
Life’s too good, there ought to be a law against it
Since we’ve grown up it’s gotten better still
It’s been laugh after laugh and thrill after thrill
Got music and songs and late-night sessions
Who says you gotta die before you get into heaven?
Drinking cold beer in the afternoons
Playing along with old country tunes
Guitar, bass, drums and pedal steel
What more could you ask, we’ve been living the dream
If it isn’t broke, why would you want to mend it?
Life’s too good, there ought to be a law against it
Now we may be getting on but we’re doing ok
We’ve still got a million more songs to play
Someone please lock us up with a case of red wine
Electric guitars and a whole lot of time
Maybe we’re childish and we’re immature
Development arrested (too late for a cure!)
But a pessimist can drown in a half empty pool
While an optimist is laughing coming out of the womb
It’s what we believe in, maybe we’ll live to repent it
Life’s too good there ought to be a law against it
It’s all there in Freud (o.k. - I know we’ve condensed it)
Life’s too good there ought to be a law against it
Jesus said it too and you can bet your bottom dollar he meant it
Life’s too good there ought to be a law against it
What the hell is wrong with admitting that you’re contented
Life’s too good there ought to be a law against it
Stolen Days (Mick Brady)
This is no idle journey
Just drifting wherever I go
But I’ve been fishing in lakes of shadows
And swimming against the flow
Time can slip by so quickly
When it seems you’re a success
But the mind can be fooled real easy
And only the heart protests
Stolen days, stolen hours, stolen minutes
Always thought that I was gonna be just fine
But now I’m far enough away to see clearly
And I see clearly I was just wasting time
Now the high hills are all behind me
I don’t need to climb them no more
And though I’m sailing through strange waters
I can see the lights on the shore
I’m trying to forget what I remember
And remember what I have forgot
But old questions don’t have easy answers
And old questions are all that I’ve got
I Hope They're Together Tonight (Mick Brady)
He was taken away and wrapped in a shawl
They rushed him down to the church
To claim him for God, to claim him for us
They were thinking of first things first
His mother was weak, she’d been through so much pain
They didn’t want to hurt her no more
So they kept her in bed, away from her child
His father outside the door
I’ve got no doubts their intentions were good
And they thought it was all for the best
But she always wished that she could have seen him
And held him close to her breast
They sent her back home with nothing to show
For all she had been through
She put away the clothes she’d made for her child
She packed up the baby toys too
Everyone said it was best to forget
Get on with life like before
There was no more to do, no more to say
That’s just the way that it goes
Fifty years on she always cried
When she spoke ‘bout her little boy
She remembered so clear, going back all those years
He was always there on her mind
She’d no grave to visit, no photo to touch
Just a pain she felt all her life
Now I miss my brother and I miss my mother
And I hope they’re together tonight
Caught In The Headlights Of Love (Mick Brady)
It’s as clear as sunshine, as simple as faith
I woke up this morning feeling great
‘Cos I know I’m gonna see that girl again
Well I met her just the other day
And no way she’s gonna slip away
This is not a case of being just friends
I’m like a rabbit on a summer’s night
Blinded by the burning lights
Caught up in the headlights of love
And when she looked at me with those big bright eyes
Baby I was mesmerised
Caught up in the headlights of love
I’m gonna raise the bar and raise my sights
Change my way of thinking, change my life
Blow away the fog and break new ground
Buy a ticket to the House of Dreams
Start myself a new regime
Move out of here and stop this messing around
In The Name Of The Faith (Mick Brady)
I remember the smack of the leather strap
When Joey walked straight into the teacher’s trap
But it was worse by far in the afternoons
When he was kept behind in the changing rooms
While the marks on his hands would heal real fast
The scars inside were there to last
Why did they do it?
Did they think they’d a right
To use innocent kids
Any way that they liked?
In the name of The Church
In the name of The State
In the name of God
In the name of The Faith
When Joey left school he was still too young
To understand the damage they’d done
He thought that now he’d be able to do
All the things he dreamed he’d do
He thought that now that he’d be free
To be the man he wanted to be
But he was troubled and wild, always out on the edge
There was stuff that stayed locked up tight in his head
Wherever he was he just couldn’t fit in
He never felt his body belonged to him
He was always avoiding and always denying
And at night he dreamed the dreams of the dying