Madman Across The Water

Tiny Dancer
Levon
Razor Face
Madman Across The Water
Indian Sunset
Holiday Inn
Rotten Peaches
All the Nasties
Goodbye

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiny Dancer

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Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Available on the album Madman Across The Water

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand
And now she's in mine, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand

Jesus freaks out in the street
Handing tickets out for God
Turning back she just laughs
The boulevard is not that bad

Piano man he makes his stand
In the auditorium
Looking on she sings the songs
The words she knows the tune she hums

But oh how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you and you can hear me
When I say softly slowly

Hold me closer tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
you had a busy day today

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand

© 1971 Dick James Music Limited

 

 

Levon

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Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Available on the album Madman Across The Water

Levon wears his war wound like a crown
He calls his child Jesus
`Cause he likes the name
And he sends him to the finest school in town

Levon, Levon likes his money
He makes a lot they say
Spend his days counting
In a garage by the motorway

He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day
When the New York Times said God is dead
And the war's begun
Alvin Tostig has a son today

And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon

Levon sells cartoon balloons in town
His family business thrives
Jesus blows up balloons all day
Sits on the porch swing watching them fly

And Jesus, he wants to go to Venus
Leaving Levon far behind
Take a balloon and go sailing
While Levon, Levon slowly dies

© 1971 Dick James Music Limited

 

 

Razor Face

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Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Available on the album Madman Across The Water

Has anybody here seen Razor Face
I Heard he's back looking for a place to lay down
Must be getting on
Needs a man who's young to walk him round
Needs a man who's young to walk him round

Oh it must be hard for the likes of you to get by
In a world that you just can't see through
And it looks so cold
How does it feel to know you can't go home
How does it feel to know you can't go home

Come on Razor Face my old friend
I'll meet you down by the truck stop inn
With a bottle of booze in the back of my car
You're a song on the lips of an aging star

Razor Face, oh amazing grace
Protects you like a glove
And I'll never learn the reason why
I love your Razor Face

© 1971 Dick James Music Limited

 

 

Madman Across The Water

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Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Available on the album Madman Across The Water

I can see very well
There's a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well
There's a joke and I know it very well
It's one of those that I told you long ago
Take my word I'm a madman don't you know

Once a fool had a good part in the play
If it's so would I still be here today
It's quite peculiar in a funny sort of way
They think it's very funny everything I say
Get a load of him, he's so insane
You better get your coat dear
It looks like rain

We'll come again next Thursday afternoon
The In-laws hope they'll see you very soon
But is it in your conscience that you're after
Another glimpse of the madman across the water

I can see very well
There's a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well
There's a joke and I know it very well
It's one of those that I told you long ago
Take my word I'm a madman don't you know

The ground's a long way down but I need more
Is the nightmare black
or are the windows painted
Will they come again next week
Can my mind really take it

© 1970 Dick James Music Limited

 

 

Indian Sunset

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Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Available on the album Madman Across The Water

As I awoke this evening with the smell of wood smoke clinging
Like a gentle cobweb hanging upon a painted teepee
Oh I went to see my chieftain with my warlance and my woman
For he told us that the yellow moon would very soon be leaving
This I can't believe I said, I can't believe our warlord's dead
Oh he would not leave the chosen ones to the buzzards and the soldiers guns

Oh great father of the Iroquois ever since I was young
I've read the writing of the smoke and breast fed on the sound of drums
I've learned to hurl the tomahawk and ride a painted pony wild
To run the gauntlet of the Sioux, to make a chieftain's daughter mine

And now you ask that I should watch
The red man's race be slowly crushed
What kind of words are these to hear
From Yellow Dog whom white man fears

I take only what is mine Lord, my pony, my squaw, and my child
I can't stay to see you die along with my tribe's pride
I go to search for the yellow moon and the fathers of our sons
Where the red sun sinks in the hills of gold and the healing waters run

Trampling down the prairie rose leaving hoof tracks in the sand
Those who wish to follow me I welcome with my hands
I heard from passing renegades Geronimo was dead
He'd been laying down his weapons when they filled him full of lead

Now there seems no reason why I should carry on
In this land that once was my land I can't find a home
It's lonely and it's quiet and the horse soldiers are coming
And I think it's time I strung my bow and ceased my senseless running
For soon I'll find the yellow moon along with my loved ones
Where the buffaloes graze in clover fields without the sound of guns

And the red sun sinks at last into the hills of gold
And peace to this young warrior comes with a bullet hole

© 1970 Dick James Music Limited

 

 

Holiday Inn

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Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Available on the album Madman Across The Water

Boston at last and the plane's touching down
Our hostess is handing the hot towels around
From a terminal gate to a black limousine
It's a ten minute ride to the Holiday Inn

Boredom's a pastime that one soon acquired
Where you get to the stage where you're not even tired
Kicking your heels till the time comes around
To pick up your bags and head out of town

Slow down Joe, I'm a rock and roll man
I've twiddled my thumbs in a dozen odd bands
And you ain't seen nothing till you've been
In a motel baby like the Holiday Inn

Deleted verse:
Oh I don't even know if it's Cleveland or Maine
With the buildings as big and rooms just the same
And the TV don't work and the French fries are cold
And the room service closed about an hour ago

1971 Dick James Music Limited

 

 

Rotten Peaches

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Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Available on the album Madman Across The Water

We've moved on six miles from where we were yesterday
And yesterday is but a long long ways away
So we'll camp out tonight beneath the bright starlight
And forget rotten peaches and the places we've stayed

I left from the dockland two years ago now
Made my way over on the S.S. Marie
And I've always had trouble wherever I've settled
Rotten peaches are all that I see

Rotten peaches rotting in the sun
Seems I've seen that devil fruit since the world begun
Mercy I'm a criminal, Jesus I'm the one
Rotten peaches rotting in the sun

There ain't no green grass in a U.S. state prison
There is no one to hold when you're sick for your wife
And each day out you'll pick, you'll pick rotten peaches
You'll pick rotten peaches for the rest of your life

Oh I've had me my fill of cocaine and pills
For I lie in the light of the Lord
And my home is ten thousand, ten thousand miles away
And I guess I won't see it no more

© 1971 Dick James Music Limited

 

 

All The Nasties

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Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Available on the album Madman Across The Water

If it came to pass that they should ask
What could I tell them
Would they criticize behind my back
Maybe I should let them
Oh if only then and only then
They would understand
They'd turn a full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man

If they could face it
I could take it in their eyes
Oh I know I'd make it
Their tiny minds
And sacred cows just fake it
If only then and only then
They would understand
They'd turn a full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man

But I know the way they want me
In the way they publicize
If they could turn their focus off
To the image in their eyes
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
That a full-blooded city boy
Is now a full-blooded city man

Oh my soul
Oh my soul
Oh my soul

© 1971 Dick James Music Limited

 

 

Goodbye

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Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Available on the album Madman Across The Water

And now that it's all over
The birds can nest again
I'll only snow when the sun comes out
I'll shine only when it starts to rain

And if you want a drink
Just squeeze my hand
And wine will flow into the land
And feed my lambs

For I am a mirror
I can reflect the moon
I will write songs for you
I'll be your silver spoon

I'm sorry I took your time
I am the poem that doesn't rhyme
Just turn back a page
I'll waste away, I'll waste away
I'll waste away, I'll waste away
I'll waste away, I'll waste away

© 1971 Dick James Music Limited

 

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