THE DIVING BOARD (2013)
BUY ON AMAZON
Oceans Away
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
I hung out with the old folks
In the hope that I’d get wise
I was trying to bridge the gap
Between the great divide
Hung on every recollection
In the theater of their eyes
Picking up on this and that
In the few that still survived
Call ‘em up, n’ dust ‘em off, let ‘em shine
The ones who hold on to the ones
They had to leave behind
Those that flew and those that fell,
The ones that had to stay
Beneath a little wooden cross oceans away
They bend like trees in winter
These shuffling old grey lions
Those snow-white stars still gather
Like the belt around Orion
Just to touch the faded lightning
Of their powerful design
Of a generation gathering
For maybe the last time
Call ‘em up, n’ dust ‘em off, let ‘em shine
The ones who hold on to the ones
They had to leave behind
Those that flew and those that fell,
The ones that had to stay
Beneath a little wooden cross oceans away
Oceans away
Where the green grass sways
And the cool wind blows
Across the shadow of their graves
Shoulder to shoulder back in the day
Sleeping bones to rest in earth, oceans away
Oceans away
Call ‘em up, n’ dust ‘em off, let ‘em shine
The ones who hold on to the ones
They had to leave behind
Those that flew and those that fell,
The ones that had to stay
Beneath a little wooden cross oceans away
Oscar Wilde Gets Out
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
Freedom for the scapegoat leaving Reading Jail
Rheumy eyes just pierced his heart like crucifixion nails
Shaking fists and razors gleamed,
You never stood a chance
When the ink ran red on Fleet Street
You turned your eyes to France
Humbled far from Dublin, chased across the waves
Your biting wit still sharp enough
To slice through every page
Destitute and beaten by the system of the crown
The bitter pill you swallowed
Tasted sweeter going down
And looking back on the great indifference
Looking back at the limestone walls
Thinking how beauty deceived you
Knowing how love fools us all
A golden boy in velveteen landed in New York
The past was so seductive
When they paid to hear you talk
Baccarat and champagne flutes,
Tobacco from Virginia
Long before the lords and law
Branded Oscar Wilde a sinner
And looking back on the cold bleak winter
Looking back on those long dark days
Felt like the head of John the Baptist
In the arms of Salome
Don’t turn around it’s a white gull screaming
Don’t cry out loud you never know who’s listening
You’ve seen it all the exiled Unforgiven
From the stately homes of England to her prisons
And looking back at the hardened lifers
Looking back on the wretched poor
Thinking maybe they were my saviors
Strange to think I’ll miss them all
Strange to think I’ll miss them all
And looking back on the great indifference
Looking back at the limestone walls
Thinking how beauty deceived you
Knowing how love fools us all
A Town Called Jubilee
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
Lilly pulled a horseshoe from a pile of junk
Said, “I’m gonna keep this good luck
Piece of iron inside my trunk”
The boy just whispered “OK”
And grabbed his old black dog
As we piled on in and cut out through
That late November fog
Dull as a ploughshare rusting in the yard
Old Cotton grinned and waved goodbye
While the auctioneers all played cards
On every other Sunday
I’d walk down Moe’s and back
Eat a t-bone steak, watch a picture show,
For a dollar and a half
Come on little sister get up offa my knee
Gonna settle down someday
In a town called Jubilee
Come on brother Jake
Break on out and break free
Gonna set things right and set up house
In a town called Jubilee
That fire came out of nowhere
Short of what I can tell
Hand to hand we passed that bucket
Up and down from the well
“Gone to California”
Used to be what folks would say
Down around these parts if it was me
I’d have hopped that westbound stage
Come on little sister get up offa my knee
Gonna settle down someday
In a town called Jubilee
Come on brother Jake
Break on out and break free
Gonna set things right and set up house
In a town called Jubilee
One last hallelujah
A little less sympathy
Lilly and Jake, the old black dog
A pinewood box, a rocking horse
All gone to Jubilee
Come on little sister get up offa my knee
Gonna settle down someday
In a town called Jubilee
Come on brother Jake
Break on out and break free
Gonna set things right and set up house
In a town called Jubilee
The Ballad Of Blind Tom
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
“Say that boy’s a wonderment”
“No! The kids a freak”
But that kid he don’t care none
His black hands resting on the keys
Hoppin’ like a big old frog
And hissin’ like a train
Entertaining royalty
All points east, west and in-between
General he’s a fine old man
Treat him like his own
“Boy wouldn’t know from money”
Just throw old Blind Tom a bone
From the times of King Cotton
May we present to you
All you Jim Crow monkeys
From Harlan County down to Tuscaloo
Play me anything you like
I’ll play it back to you
But careful what you call me though
Some things cut clear on through
I may be an idiot
I may be a savant
I didn’t choose this life for me
But it’s something that I want
Cocks that old big head aside
Grunts a word or two
Keeps ‘em guessin’ every night
Is he really gonna make it through
Faint hearts with their fans out
Starched collars and cigars
He weren’t no use for slavin’
“I wouldn’t want him in my yard”
Play me anything you like
I’ll play it back to you
But careful what you call me though
Some things cut clear on through
I may be an idiot
I may be a savant
I didn’t choose this life for me
But it’s something that I want
Play me anything you like
I’ll play it back to you
But careful what you call me though
Some things cut clear on through
I may be an idiot
I may be a savant
I didn’t choose this life for me
But it’s something that I want
My Quicksand
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
I put my life on hold and took you home
Good sense shot down I placed you on a throne
Where was the wheel that kept me on the road?
The force of nature preventing overload
Say don’t you know I’ve been dressed to kill
If you got the tools be careful what you build
When the arrow’s in the bull’s-eye every time
It’s hard assuming that the archer’s blind
My quicksand
Let me introduce you
To my final stand
I went to Paris once
I thought I had a plan
I woke up with an accent
I wound up in quicksand
My quicksand
I was full of foreign notions at the start
There was never once
When I was off my guard
For any ghost of every poet in the ground
There’s one like me
To buy the guys a round
My quicksand
Let me introduce you
To my final stand
I went to Paris once
I thought I had a plan
I woke up with an accent
I wound up in quicksand
My quicksand
I’m going down
You and me together going down
It’s not what I’d been told about this town
That when you least expect it you can drown
In quicksand
My quicksand
My quicksand
Let me introduce you
To my final stand
I went to Paris once
I thought I had a plan
I woke up with an accent
I wound up in quicksand
My quicksand
My quicksand
Cant Stay Alone Tonight
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
Blew the dust out of the corners
Threw some dead wood on the fire
Tuned the radio to silence
Watched the evening sun expire
Should have called you up this morning
But I’m such a fool at times
I still search my shaving mirror
Looking for your face with mine
And I can’t stay alone tonight
Can’t let another day go by
Why is it always this way?
Time never seems to really fly
And time is never really on my side
And I can’t stay alone tonight
Things have to change and they might
But I can’t stay alone tonight
Chalk up one more crazy notion
Imagination running wild
But if I needed confirmation
I would have gone that extra mile
You’re the last chance on the highway
I’m that open stretch of road
You’re the diner in my rear-view
A cup of coffee getting cold
And I can’t stay alone tonight
Can’t let another day go by
Why is it always this way?
Time never seems to really fly
And time is never really on my side
And I can’t stay alone tonight
Things have to change and they might
But I can’t stay alone tonight
Bruised in this cold war of words
We’ve come undone two loose ends alone
Possessed by that curse you’ve endured
The spell that I cast couldn’t make you come home
And I can’t stay alone tonight
Can’t let another day go by
Why is it always this way?
Time never seems to really fly
And time is never really on my side
And I can’t stay alone tonight
Things have to change and they might
But I can’t stay alone tonight
Things have to change and they might
But I can’t stay alone tonight
Voyeur
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
I’m looking, I’m looking back
I’m trying to imagine this and that
The simple mathematics making up the map
Insurance of protection from immediate collapse
I’m watching, I’m watching you
A voyeur from a different point of view
The solitary eyes that I’ve been looking through
Committed to connecting the old ways to the new
And I see things
Through a curtain blowing back against the rain
Through the crack in a door that heaves with pain
And through every gap that gives away
Some secret in the dark
I’ll come away with something
To keep you in my heart
I’m searching, I’m setting out
To prove without a shadow of a doubt
The age-old contradiction that’s hovering about
A whisper in the darkness
Holds more truth than a shout
I’m waiting, I’m waiting for
Telltale footsteps on the bedroom floor
A broken hearted lover simply looking for
Relief that’s temporary from her dirty little war
And I see things
From the ceilings of a hundred hotel rooms
From a satellite that’s bouncing off the moon
And from every telescope
That’s focused in on someplace dark
I’ll come away with something to keep you in my heart
Yes I see things
From the highest branch that looks directly in
Through a hawk’s eyes gliding silent on the wind
And in every secret rendezvous where illicit lovers park
I’ll come away with something to keep you in my heart
Voyeur
Voyeur
Voyeur
Home Again
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
I’m counting on a memory
To get me out of here
I’m waiting for the fog
Around this spooky little town to clear
All this time I’ve spent
Being someone else’s friend
Just one more time, for old time’s sake
I’d like to go back home again
The world had seven wonders
Once upon a time
It’s sure enough the favored nations
Aided their decline
And all around me I’ve seen times
Like it was back when
But like back then I’d say amen
If I could get back home again
If I could go back home,
If I could go back home
If I’d never left I’d never have known
We all dream of leaving
But wind up in the end
Spending all our time trying
To get back home again
Could have been a jailbreak
And the spotlight hitting me
Or was I just some nightclub singer
Back in nineteen sixty-three
In the old part of Valencia
On the coast of Spain
Never tiring once of hearing songs
About going home again
If I could go back home,
If I could go back home
If I’d never left I’d never have known
We all dream of leaving
But wind up in the end
Spending all our time trying
To get back home again
If I could go back home,
If I could go back home
If I’d never left I’d never have known
We all dream of leaving
But wind up in the end
Spending all our time trying
To get back home again
Take This Dirty Water
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
Spare the rod don’t spare the fool
If you take the breaks you’re given
You get to make the rules
Take a chance and make it fast
If you break some bones on landing
You know you’re built to last
Fight the tide and find the shore
If the gift horse isn’t smiling
Just learn to ride some more
Common sense is a rule of thumb
If the suckers throw a red flag
Blow ‘em all to Kingdom Come
And take this dirty water
Running like a river
In and out of everything
We helped to put together
Take this dirty water
Help to keep it clean
Get back to the wellspring
Purify the stream
Search out days that never end
If it’s only for the chance
To feel just like a child again
Tell a lie that speaks the truth
If the heart becomes a prisoner
Your soul will turn you loose
And take this dirty water
Running like a river
In and out of everything
We helped to put together
Take this dirty water
Help to keep it clean
Get back to the wellspring
Purify the stream
Take this dirty water
Running like a river
In and out of everything
We helped to put together
Take this dirty water
Help to keep it clean
Get back to the wellspring
Purify the stream
The New Fever Waltz
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
Forgotten scars remind us of
Too much war, too little love
Beneath the fault-line truth to burn
Within the page so much to learn
Wounded birds look to us
Who can heal? Who to trust
Bring down the giants old and new
Strike up the band and waltz on through
I was shaking with a fever
When the last good horse went down
We were just a couple dancing
Where a thousand kings were crowned
Shaking with a fever
Before the white flag flew
And the ballroom opened up to us
And the dancers danced on through
Love in ruins, torn apart
Victims of the careless heart
Skating on the cold grey ice
Before the flood toward the light
Muddy boots to shiny shoes
Headlines screaming out the news
From dirt and damp to hardwood floors
Beyond the burned out broken walls
I was shaking with a fever
When the last good horse went down
We were just a couple dancing
Where a thousand kings were crowned
Shaking with a fever
Before the white flag flew
And the ballroom opened up to us
And the dancers danced on through
I was shaking with a fever
When the last good horse went down
We were just a couple dancing
Where a thousand kings were crowned
Shaking with a fever
Before the white flag flew
And the ballroom opened up to us
And the dancers danced on through
And the dancers danced on through
Mexican Vacation (Kids In The Candlelight)
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
I carried you in my arms
Through the hotel to our room
The night was filled with music
Those old historic tunes
Songs of revolution
Filled our hearts and fed our souls
As the fireworks exploded
Like those cannons long ago
See the kids in the candlelight
Spirits on the mend
Every golden child tonight
Feels changes on the wind
See the kids in the candlelight
See ‘em shining bright
Innocence beyond the fight
See the kids in the candlelight
Five hundred wooden saints below
Their colors cracked and dry
You said their stories should be told
Did they suffer when they died?
Give us your tradition
Give us hope and send us home
We’ll be the cracked bells tolling
The voice of dust and bones
See the kids in the candlelight
Spirits on the mend
Every golden child tonight
Feels changes on the wind
See the kids in the candlelight
See ‘em shining bright
Innocence beyond the fight
See the kids in the candlelight
The pillow that you dream on
Lies rolled up on the floor
You tossed it at the TV screen
At the drug lord and his war
Thinking of the courtyard
Forced a tear from your eye
The white shirts in the moonlight
The warm forgiving smiles
See the kids in the candlelight
Spirits on the mend
Every golden child tonight
Feels changes on the wind
See the kids in the candlelight
See ‘em shining bright
Innocence beyond the fight
See the kids in the candlelight
Yea, Yea, Yea
Yea, Yea, Yea
The Diving Board
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
Took a high dive arcing out wide
Into the crowd
Out to the sound of their wild applause
But you’ve heard it before
And you’ve seen it all
From up there on the diving board
You’d free fall into the ether
Above the people
Out on a limb fragile and adored
But who below knows that
You’re still a mystery
Way up on the diving board
Sink or swim
I can’t recall
Who said that to me?
When I was sixteen
And full of the world and its noise
But you beat the drum
You fell in love with it all
The planets alight
Those dizzy heights
And the view from the diving board
Took the grand prize you and your eyes
Butterfly light
Escaping the reach
of their fangs and their claws
Such a pale little thing
In your lily-white skin
High up on the diving board
Sink or swim
I can’t recall
Who said that to me?
When I was sixteen
And full of the world and its noise
But you beat the drum
You fell in love with it all
The planets alight
Those dizzy heights
And the view from the diving board
Sink or swim
I can’t recall
Who said that to me?
When I was sixteen
And full of the world and its noise
But you beat the drum
You fell in love with it all
The planets alight
Those dizzy heights
And the view from the diving board
And the view from the diving board
Candlelit Bedroom
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
The sound of one heart breaking, the sound of someone waking
To the cold hard truth before the sun goes down
If I could ever capture a little bit of that
I’d wrap it up and bury it in the deep dark ground
For the lost soul on the ledge with one last chance to bet
To the deepest root of the oldest tree
If we could only bottle a little bit of rain
Wrung out from the history in its ancient leaves
All you need is a candlelit bedroom
All you ever wanted was a state of grace
Every waking moment you believe that
Love will always lead you to a better place
The never-ending stories of the victor and the spoils
The treasure and the lesson to be learned
If I could ever wrap up a little piece of this
I’d strike a match and watch the contents burn
Love will always lead to a candlelit bedroom
Only if you want it bad enough
Every waking moment you believe that
We must have a little faith in the light of love
All you need is a candlelit bedroom
All you ever wanted was a state of grace
Every waking moment you believe that
Love will always lead you to a better place
Love will always lead to a candlelit bedroom
Only if you want it bad enough
Every waking moment you believe that
We must have a little faith in the light of love
Every waking moment you believe that
We must have a little faith in the light of love
5th Avenue
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
I stumbled down 5th Avenue
In the wintertime 1982
No heavy coat
Thin pair of shoes
In the rush hour crowd
On 5th Avenue
I thought I saw someone I knew
Turned out to be no one but you
Something borrowed
Something blue
Ducked in a doorway
On 5th Avenue
All my crimes come back to haunt me
Every building seems to judge
Standing tall and looking down
Like fingers pointing from above
On 5th Avenue
On 5th Avenue
The party’s over
On 5th Avenue
Fortune finds the chosen few
Fools just find someone like you
Build a bank
Or you buy a zoo
Monkeys and money
On 5th Avenue
Snow falls on 5th Avenue
Your old man’s on the evening news
Hard to believe
How far he flew
Down all the way down
To 5th Avenue
All my crimes come back to haunt me
Every building seems to judge
Standing tall and looking down
Like fingers pointing from above
On 5th Avenue
On 5th Avenue
The party’s over
On 5th Avenue
All my crimes come back to haunt me
Every building seems to judge
Standing tall and looking down
Like fingers pointing from above
All my crimes come back to haunt me
Every building seems to judge
Standing tall and looking down
Like fingers pointing from above
On 5th Avenue
On 5th Avenue
The party’s over
On 5th Avenue
Gauguin Gone Hollywood
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
He talks a lot but never talks to anyone at all
He shakes his fist at buses and old posters on the walls
He knows someone who knew something about JFK
But his friends are just the shadows in the halls and alleyways
The rumbling frozen pipes whisper secrets in the night
In the coffee grounds his fingers sketch a portrait of his wife
She knew the legal eagle when his wings swept through the stars
Before he shut the furnace down and sealed away his heart
It’s Gauguin gone Hollywood again
A sleeping giant inside a rabbit skin
Tahitian doors beyond the painted veil
Another simple mind adrift
Like Gauguin going Hollywood again
The day lacks color; days are duller than a butter knife
Rusty water running through hands out of touch with life
A man of independent means he’d have us all believe
A soul who folds his wings away before he goes to sleep
It’s Gauguin gone Hollywood again
A sleeping giant inside a rabbit skin
Tahitian doors beyond the painted veil
Another simple mind adrift
Like Gauguin going Hollywood again
If only for a moment the dead weight were alive
An invitation for the flame to shine a light inside
Illuminating darkness giving him release
Then someday in his trashcan we’ll find a masterpiece
It’s Gauguin gone Hollywood again
A sleeping giant inside a rabbit skin
Tahitian doors beyond the painted veil
Another simple mind adrift
Like Gauguin going Hollywood again
Like Gauguin going Hollywood again