Daniel

(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)

 

Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane,

I can see the red tail-lights heading for Spain;

Oh, and I can see Daniel waving goodbye,

God, it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes.

 

They say Spain is pretty, though I’ve never been,

Well, Daniel says its the best place he’s ever seen,

Oh, and he should know, he’s been there enough,

Lord, I miss Daniel, oh, I miss him so much.

 

Oh, Daniel, my brother,

You are older than me,

Do you still feel the pain

Of the scars that won’t heal?

Your eyes have died, but you see more than I,

Daniel, you’re a star in the face of the sky.

 

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Teacher I Need You

(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)

 

I was sitting in the class-room

Trying to look intelligent

In case the teacher looked at me.

She was long and she was lean,

She's a middle-aged dream

And that lady means the whole world to me.

 

It's a natural achievement

Conquering my homework

With her image pounding in my brain.

She's an inspiration

For my graduation

And she helps to keep the class-room sane.

 

Oh, teacher, I need you

Like a little child

You got something in you

To drive a schoolboy wild.

You give me education

In the lovesick blues

Help me get straight, come out and say –

Teacher, I – Teacher, I – Teacher, I –

Teacher, I need you!

 

I have to write a letter,

Tell about my feelings

Just to let her know the scene.

Focus my attention

On some further education

In connection with the birdies and the bees.

 

So, I'm sitting in the class-room,

I'm looking like a zombie,

I'm waiting for the bell to ring.

I've got John Wayne stances,

I've got Erroll Flynn advances

And it doesn't mean a doggone thing.

 

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Elderberry Wine

(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)

 

There’s a fly in the window, a dog in the yard,

And a year since I saw you;

There’s a trunk in the corner, I keep all my letters,

My bills and demands I keep too.

 

But I can’t help thinkin’ about the times

You were a wife of mine;

You aimed to please me, cooked blacked-eyed peas-me,

Made Elderberry Wine.

 

Drunk all the time, feelin’ fine,

On Elderberry Wine,

Those were the days, we’d lie in the haze,

Forget depressive times.

 

How can I ever get it together

Without a wife in line

To pick the crop and get me hot

On Elderberry Wine?

 

Round a tree in the summer, a fire in the fall,

Flat out when we couldn’t stand,

The bottle went round, like a woman down South

Passed on from hand to hand.

 

But I can’t help thinkin’ about the times,

You were a wife of mine,

You aimed to please me, cooked blacked-eyed peas-me,

Made Elderberry Wine.

 

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Blues For Baby And Me

(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)

 

Your old man got mad when I told him we were leaving,

He cursed and he raged and he swore at the ceiling,

He called you his child, said, "Honey get wise to his game,

He’ll get you in trouble, I know it, those bums are all the same."

There’s a Greyhound outside in the lane, it’s waiting for us,

So tell him goodbye, we gotta go west on that bus.

 

And it’s all over now,

Don’t you worry no more,

Gonna go west to the sea;

The Greyhound is swaying,

And the radio’s playing

Some blues for baby and me.

And the highway looks like it never did,

Lord, it looks so sweet and so free,

And I can’t forget that trip to the west,

Singing blues for baby and me.

 

Saw your hands trembling, your eyes opened in surprise,

It’s ninety in the shade, babe, and there ain’t a cloud in the sky.

I called you my child, said "Honey, now this is our game,

There’s two of us to play it, and I’m happy to be home again."

There’s a Greyhound outside in the lane, it’s waiting for us,

So tell him goodbye, we gotta go west on that bus.

 

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Midnight Creeper

(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)

 

Walk a mile in my tennis shoes,

Tina Turner gave me the highway blues,

But I don’t love nobody but you, honey.

 

I’m true rat for the things I done,

Second cousin to a son of a gun,

I’m gonna wipe out your mama if she puts me on, honey.

 

‘Cause I’m a midnight creeper,

Ain’t gonna lose no sleep over you.

When there’s a nightmare, I’m there,

Tempting you to blow a fuse.

 

Well, there’s no more sleepin’

When I’m midnight creepin’ over you,

Watch out, honey, watch out, honey,

Watch the things you do.

 

Long-haired ladies, well they look so fine

Locked in my cellar full of cheap red wine,

But I don’t think those ladies, they really mind, honey.

 

I still don’t know why you hate me so,

A little bit of fun never stopped no show,

Well, I just want to loosen up my soul, honey.

 

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Have Mercy On The Criminal

(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)

 

Have you heard, the dogs at night,

Somewhere on the hill,

Chasing some poor criminal,

And I guess they’re out to kill?

Oh, there must be shackles, on his feet,

And Mother in his eyes, stumbling through the devil-dark,

With the hound pack in full cry –

 

Have mercy on the criminal

Who is running from the law,

Are you blind to the

Winds of change,

Don’t you hear him any more?

 

Praying, "Lord, you gotta help me,

I am never gonna sin again,

Just take these chains

From around my legs,

Sweet Jesus, I’ll be your friend."

 

Now have you ever seen

The white teeth gleam

While you lie on a

Cold damp ground?

You’re taking in the face of a rifle butt

While the wardens hold you down,

And you’ve never seen a friend in years.

Oh, it turns your heart to stone,

You jump the walls,

And the dogs run free,

And the grave’s gonna be your home.

 

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I'm Going To Be A Teenage Idol

(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)

 

Well, there’s slim times when my words won’t rhyme,

And the hills I face are a long hard climb,

I just sit cross-legged with my old guitar,

Ooh! It kind of makes me feel like a rock-and-roll star.

 

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.

 

I’ll be a teenage idol, just give me a break,

I’m gonna be a teenage idol, no matter how long it takes.

You can’t imagine what it means to me,

I’m gonna grab myself a place in history,

A teenage idol, that’s what I’m gonna be.

 

Well, life is short and the world is rough,

And if you’re gonna boogie, boy, you gotta be tough.

Nobody knows if I’m dead or alive,

I just drink myself to sleep each night.

 

And so I pray to the teenage god of rock,

If I make it big, let me stay on top,

You gotta cut me loose from this one-room dive,

Put me on the ladder, keep this boy alive.

 

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Texan Love Song

(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)

 

I heard from a friend you'd been messin' around

With a cute little thing I'd been dating uptown;

Well, I don't know if I like that idea much,

Well, you'd better stay clear, I might start acting rough.

 

You out-of-town guys sure think you're real keen,

Think all of us boys here are homespun and green;

But that's wrong, my friend, so get this through your head,

We're tough and we're Texan with necks good and red.

 

So it's Ki-i-yippie-yi-yi,

You long hairs are sure gonna die,

Our American home was clean till you came,

And kids still respected the president's name.

 

And the eagle still flew in the sky,

Hearts filled with national pride.

Then you came along with your drug-crazy songs –

Goddammit, you're all gonna die.

 

How dare you sit there and drink all our beer,

Oh, it's made for us workers who sweat, spit and swear,

The minds of our daughters are poisoned by you,

With your communistic politics and them Negro blues.

 

Well, I'm gonna quit talking and take action now,

Run all of you fairies clean out of this town,

Oh, I'm dog-tired of watching you mess up our lives,

Spending the summertime naturally high.

 

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Crocodile Rock

(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)

 

I remember when rock was young,

Me and Susie had so much fun,

Holdin' hands and skimmin’ stones,

Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own.

 

But the biggest kick I ever got

Was doing a thing called the Crocodile Rock;

While the other kids were rocking round the clock,

We were hoppin’ and boppin’ to the Crocodile Rock.

 

Well, Crocodile Rockin’ is something shockin’,

When your feet just can’t keep still;

I never knew me a better time,

And I guess I never will.

 

Oh, lawdy mama, those Friday nights,

When Susie wore her dresses tight,

And the Crocodile Rockin’ was out of sight.

 

But the years went by and rock just died,

Susie went and left me for some foreign guy;,

Long nights cryin’ by the record machine,

Dreamin’ of my Chevy and my old blue jeans.

 

But they’ll never kill the thrills we got,

Burnin' up to the Crocodile Rock,

Learnin' fast as the weeks went past,

We really thought the Crocodile Rock would last.

 

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High-Flying Bird

(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)

 

You wore a little cross of gold around your neck,

I saw it as you flew between my reason,

Like a raven in the night-time when you left;

I wear a chain upon my wrist that bears no name,

You touched it and you wore it,

And you kept it in your pillow all the same.

 

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.

 

The white walls of your dressing-room are stained in scarlet red,

You bled upon the cold stone like a young man

In the foreign field of death.

"Wouldn’t it be wonderful?" is all I heard you say,

You never closed your eyes at night, and learnt to love daylight –

Instead you moved away.

 

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