TURN BACK THE HANDS OF TIME
DEIRDRE HUGHES (2007)
Taupin wrote the lyrics for 10 of the 13 songs on Deirdre's album.
The Last To Know
(Bernie Taupin/Josquin des Pres/Mark Paladino)
Waking up with one good man
And sleeping with the chance
That he could change his mind someday
Is knowing where you stand
If he tells you he'll be home tonight
You know he feels the need inside
A nagging doubt that's never sure
To tell the truth or lie
And you could be the last to know
The secret is hurting you
So hold on and don't let go
Say it's just a phase he's going through
The time you need to talk it out
Can slip away so soon
Before you know the song's been sung
And both of you will have lost the tune
Guilt just takes it's own sweet time
To plant the seed of doubt
Once the pain has locked you in
There's just no getting out
Turn Back The Hands Of Time, Patsy Cline
(Bernie Taupin/Josquin des Pres/Mark Paladino)
Sonny, I've been missing you tonight,
Sonny, something deep inside me has died.
I gave up the purest love
A woman could give to a man.
Everything I ever had
Has slipped right through my hands
In this Honky Tonk
Everyone is gone
And I just got to thinking
Here on my own
How much our music’s grown
So I turn ‘em down
And grab myself a broom
As I start to sweep
A presence fills the room
I these walls could talk
I know they’d say
We miss the innocence
The purity that lay
In country’s younger days
At the midnight hour
The present fades away
As the clock strikes 12
I close my eyes and pray
Turn back the hands of time
Patsy Cline
Waltz me in those Crazy arms
Just one more time
These ghosts in the jukebox
Still linger on my mind
I miss the things that meant so much
Once upon a time
Like an honest man, a simple dance and Patsy Cline
So I dance alone
Memories swimmin’ ‘round
Ernest Tubb, Bill Munroe
The fiddle bows
Playin’ long forgotten sounds
Oh, this empty stage
It seems so alive
Imagination reigns
Must be 1955
We’re all rushing ‘round in circles
We’re living for today
Forgetting where we came from
And how we learned to play
Take a look behind you
And look at yesterday
The Magic in that won’t ever fade away
So Much Love
(Bernie Taupin/Josquin des Pres/Mark Paladino)
Sunset to morning, hard work for my man
These wages are slipping right through our hands
Hot days and no shade, caught on the wheel
Only the workers know how this nightmare feels
This may not be the kind of throne
Kings have built beneath their queens, I don’t care
I got so much love to give you
So much love to live for
As we float upon life’s river
There’s a way out of tomorrow
We’ll see it through together
Riding the storm, and holding our own
Again
How come the wealthy come out so clean
Their footsteps trample all our dreams
You work the nightshift, and I’ll work all day
Stealing the moments, when time never shows its face
I don’t need gold and jewels
I’m no rich girl, just a fool for you
I got so much love to give you
So much love to live for
As we float upon life’s river
There’s a way out of tomorrow
We’ll see it through together
Riding the storm, and holding our own
Again
Radiate
(Bernie Taupin/Josquin des Pres/Mark Paladino)
As the light plays on your face
And a smile comes from your eyes
The mouth that kissed the sun with fire
Radiates with desire
All the stars that burned last night
Linger on to paint your lips
The jewels of the heavens shine
And radiate when we kiss
You radiate
You shine
Take my hand now
Read my love line
You radiate
Make no mistake
When I’m lost
You come along and shine
Like sunlight on a mountain
You radiate
In the magic of the moment
You draw me in close to your heart
The sparks between us steal the silence
And radiate in the dark
You radiate
You shine
Take my hand now
Read my love line
You radiate
Make no mistake
When I’m lost
You come along and shine
Like sunlight on a mountain
You radiate
I believe you hold the power
Inside your soul the thunder sleeps
I listen and I feel the lightning
Radiating just for me
Doll House
(Bernie Taupin/Josquin des Pres/Mark Paladino)
Well I carry all this pain in my eyes
In that pretty dress I feel just like a child
There’s an innocence in every part of me
That needs a better man than you can be
You don’t want to live in my dollhouse anymore
You try to live the perfect life
And heaven knows how much you’re mine
There’s a distance to your heart I can’t reach
A lesson about faith you can’t keep
You don’t want to live in my dollhouse any more
The picture that I paint will never come true
Your grass is always green and my sky’s always blue
But in your life the colors always run
You’re here today, tomorrow you could be gone
Heart Of Glass
(Bernie Taupin/Josquin des Pres/Mark Paladino)
The mirror cracked before my eyes
As pieces fell your reflection died
Shatter proof you stood and laughed
And said you’ll never break this heart of glass
You crushed my love underneath your heel
Turned and walked from the battlefield
Bad luck couldn’t be much worse
Than living in a world of hurt
Heart of glass
You’ve never known no one
You ever cared a damn for
Who ever turned you on
I’d sell my soul
Given half the chance
To tape the edge and
To crack your heart of glass
He really plays a dangerous game
Moving like the wheels of a speeding train
Lost control I left at last
Cut so deep from your heart of glass
Are you afraid of loving me
You treat my heart like the enemy
That guilt that never touches you
You hide inside a cold dark room
The Backstairs
(Bernie Taupin/Josquin des Pres/Mark Paladino)
Tripped and stumbled and I’ve fallen down
Climbed my way back up from the cold hard ground
Walked these streets at night, I’ve seen people turn
Heard ‘em call me names that I never earned
Livin’ in my skin a simple twist of fate
I’ve seen the mark of Cain leave a bitter taste
But I’m gonna get out of here get off the backstairs
Gonna turn on the light in a brand new house
Gonna step right through the front door
With dirty boots on a clean floor
But I’m gonna get out of here get off the backstairs
And someday, I’m gonna step right through the front door
With dirty boots on a clean floor
Suffered in silence, and I’ve been let down
Seen the ones I trusted, steal the dreams I found
I’ve been slow to change, never knew this life
Could kick so hard, could really hurt
Livin’ in my skin a simple twist of fate
Get off The Backstairs, before its too late
I should have sold my soul, a long, long time ago
I should have felt the weight resting on my shoulders
But I found out, I had to live without
The freedom of sunlight from the shadow of a doubt
Before it’s too late
Redneck Male
(Bernie Taupin/Josquin des Pres/Mark Paladino/Richie Zito)
Truck stop, chili dog
Grab a nap
In his big rig cab
It’s a long haul down, down to Jacksonville
White lines, highway signs
Diesel fumes
Blowing out behind
It’s his home away from home on 18 wheels
Part renegade and part alley cat
A denim gypsy in a John Deere cap
Got a three-day beard and he’s working on a
Red Man chew
Oh, yeah! Yeah!
I don’t worry about him none
He’s straight as an arrow, swift as a gun
It’s all in a day’s work for the redneck male
He’s my redneck male
I love my redneck male
He’s my redneck male
Dragnets, auto wrecks
Marty Robbins
On his cassette deck
He sure loves the way that lonesome cowboy wails
Hell fire, hot dang
It’s a pretty girl
In a blue Mustang
Comin’ on his left doing close to 95
And the wind-chill factor’s got him down
The desert sun could melt his tires
Seen a sand storm kick up mean as a scorpion’s tail
Long nights, CB
Good buddy
Come on back to me
He’s been three weeks gone and this is Baton Rouge
Waitress In A Roadhouse
(Bernie Taupin/Josquin des Pres/Mark Paladino)
She stares into her coffee and contemplates the offer
She's been made by some blue-collar boy
Who whispered crude advances that questioned her morality
Doing little for her vanity in the mirror on the wall
And her bobby pins start rusting from the kitchen's busy steam
And there's too much starch in her apron strings
And the tables nick her seams
She's a waitress in a roadhouse
On a highway from east to west
Pouring warm words into cold hearts
In pursuit of happiness
And the radio plays around the clock
As she puts her thoughts to rest
She's a waitress in a roadhouse
On a highway from east to west
Jacky he's a big man, he wears a greasy white Stetson
Pats her rear and calls her silly girl
As she describes her fantasy of a trailer home in Bakersfield
Where the asphalt sizzles like hot cakes on the griddle
And she's running close to forty with a couple of extra pounds
Tuck tightly in her uniform and firmly flatten down
As the highway snakes up ahead into the morning mist
She wishes that blue-collar boy had left her more than this...
As the moth flies around the neon lights so blindly and so dumb
She thinks of wings on which someday she may at last move on