Rare Masters

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk b-side in september, 1973

When i was a boy i had a lot of fun
I lived by the sea, i was a fisherman's son
My mother she was a fisherman's wife
She was scrubbing floors most of her life

They said screw you
I ain't got nothing to lose
I could paper a matchbox
With the money i use


At the school i attended i got into fights
I was beaten in an alley on a cold winter night
The teachers cared less for the blood in our veins
They got most of their thrills out of using a cane


They said screw you
Oh you bloody young fools
I could get more sense
Out of the back end of a mule


So you see there's man who get paid for being slaves
And men who get paid for being free
And there's men behind bars who pray for the light
And men in the suburbs who pray for the night
And they're all trying to climb to the top of the mine
And all of them say most of the way
Screw you


I worked in the mill from seven till nine
Tears in my eyes nearly drove me half-blind
Trying to make wages that weren't even there
Taking hell from a foreman with the build of a bear


He said screw you
This is all you'll ever do
It's the only existence for someone like you

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk b-side in june, 1970
Available on the album goodbye yellow brick road


Why's it never light on my lawn
Why does it rain and never say good-day to the new-born
On the big screen they showed us the sun
But not as bright in life as the real one
It's never quite the same as the real one

And tell me grey seal
How does it feel
To be so wise
To see through eyes
That only see what's real
Tell me grey seal


I never learned why meteors were formed
I only farmed in schools that were so warn and torn
If anyone can cry then so can i
I read books and draw life from the eye
All my life is drawings from the eye


Your mission bells were wrought by ancient men
The roots were formed by twisted roots
Your roots were twisted then
I was re-born before all life could die
The phoenix bird will leave this world to fly
If the phoenix bird can fly then so can i

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the soundtrack friends

For our world, the circle turns again
Throughout the year we've seen the seasons change
It's meant a lot to me to start anew
Oh the winter's cold but i'm so warm with you

Out there there's not a sound to be heard
And the seasons seem to sleep upon their words
As the waters freeze up with the summer's end


Oh it's funny how young lovers start as friends
Yes it's funny how young lovers start as friends

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the soundtrack friends


I hope the day will be a lighter highway
For friends are found on every road
Can you ever think of any better way
For the lost and weary travellers to go

Making friends for the world to see
Let the people know you got what you need
With a friend at hand you will see the light
If your friends are there then everything's all right


It seems to me a crime that we should age
These fragile times should never slip us by
A time you never can or shall erase
As friends together watch their childhood fly

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk b-side in november, 1973

Sitting here on christmas eve with a brandy in my hand
Oh i've had a few too many and it's getting hard to stand
I keep hearing noises from my fireplace
I must be going crazy or the brandy's won the race

And i keep hearing ho ho ho, guess who's here
Your fat and jolly friend draws near
Ho ho ho, surprise, surprise
The bearded weirdy's just arrived


Ho ho ho, guess who's here
Your fat and jolly friend draws near
Ho ho ho, surprise surprise
The bearded wierdy's just arrived


On my roof there's snorting sounds, and bells inside my head
My vision's blurred with colour, and all he sees is red
There's a pair of large sized wellies coming down my flue
And the smell of burning rubber, oh is filling up the room

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the album empty sky
Released as a uk b-side in january, 1973

Turn me loose from your hands
Let me fly to distant lands
Over green fields, trees and mountains
Flowers and forest fountains
Home along the lanes of the skyway

For this dark and lonely room
Projects a shadow cast in gloom
And my eyes are mirrors
Of the world outside
Thinking of the way
That the wind can turn the tide
And these shadows turn
From purple into grey


For just a skyline pigeon
Dreaming of the open
Waiting for the day
He can spread his wings
And fly away again
Fly away skyline pigeon fly
Towards the dreams
You've left so very far behind


Just let me wake up in the morning
To the smell of new mown hay
To laugh and cry, to live and die
In the brightness of my day


I want to hear the pealing bells
Of distant churches sing
But most of all please free me
From this aching metal ring
And open out this cage towards the sun

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk b-side in june, 1973

I lived in a tenement six floors above
I lent you my records and i lent you my love
But you left me on the weekend without a by-your-leave
That's a dirty and a low-down trick
My folks all think you're mean

But i don't mind, that's kind of nifty
You always set those break-ups in the movies
And just like a light honey you put me out
Now i'm gonna do my best
To get you back in the nest you came from


You can erase me if you want to
Turn your back in other men
But whenever you're ready
Honey, we'll go steady again


It's nasty without you in my little room
I miss you like crazy, please come back soon
I was joking with those things i said
I couldn't have been thinking
If you don't come back i think i'll crack
Just like my old ceiling

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk single in january, 1969


When the shrill winds are screaming
And the evening is still
Lady samantha glides over the hill
In a long satin dress that she wears every day
Her home is the hillside, her bed is the grave

Lady samantha glides like a tiger
Over the hills with no one beside her
No one comes near
They all live in fear
But lady samantha, she sheds only tears


The tales that i told round the fire every night
Are out of proportion and none of them right
She is harmless and empty of anything bad
For she once had something that most of you have

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the soundtrack friends

I work for the foundry for a penny and a half a day
Like a blind street musician i never see those who pay
It's dirty work in birmingham
Better deal for a sheffield man
If he can rivet then his kids can buy
Candy from the candy man

And the van that comes around weekends
Selling fancy city things
Sold by the man with the trilby hat
And the whiskers spread like wings
You can hear him sing
Oh you can hear him sing
Can i put you on, people can i put you on
Tell you that i love you people
Sing a salesman's song and put you on


And a second cousin works in the pits in newcastle on tyne
And he don't care if it rains outside, there's coal dust on his mind
It's dirty work in manchester
But the crew gets paid its gelt
Bang on the bell on friday
You buys a little something for yourself


And the van that comes around weekends
Selling fancy city things
Sold by the man in the trilby hat
And the whiskers spread like wings
You can hear him sing
Oh you can hear him sing
Can i put you on, people can i put you on
Tell you that i love you people
Sing a salesman's song and put you on

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk single in june, 1970

If anyone should see me making it down the highway
Breaking all the laws of the land
Well don't you try to stop me
I'm going her way
And that's the way i'm sure she had it planned

Well that's my rock-and-roll madonna
She's always been a lady of the road
Well everybody wants her
But no one ever gets her
Well the freeway is the only way she knows


Well if she would only slow down for a short time
I'd get to know her just before she leaves
But she's got some fascination for that two wheel combination
And i swear it's going to be the death of me

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk b-side in january, 1971

I'm moving out of tombstone, yeah with the sun behind my back
I'm tired of people talking of things that i lack
Ever since a week ago, the day he passed away
I've been taking too much notice of the things they've had to say

And all they say is you ain't half the man he used to be
He had strength and he worked his life to feed his family
So if that's the way it has to be, i'll say goodbye to you
I'm not the guy, or so it seems to fill my old man's shoes


Like i'm a wicked way of life, the kind that should be tamed
They'd like to see me locked in jail and tied up in their chains
Oh it's hard and i can't see what they want me to do lord, lord
They seem to think i should step into the old man's shoes

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk b-side in january, 1969

The sister of sunlight
Comes to my lonely life
Bearing the crosses i hung
I hung on my lonely wife
And the anchor told me
If i prayed by the river
That the sweet sound of water
Would always go with her

All across the havens to the waterfall
They told me i would meet her there
Inside those icy walls
But how on earth in this universe
Can they forgive me of my pains
For all across the havens
I must stumble locked in chains


Then the mother of mercy
Showed me her stable
And told me you would be safe
Safe in her cradle
And the waterfall opened
And the water withdrew
Leaving me standing
On a road leading through

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the soundtrack friends

Cast a pebble on the water
Watch the ripples gently spreading
Tiny daughter of the camargue
We were meant to be together
We were made for one another
In a time it takes to grow up
If only we were old enough
Then they might leave us both alone

So take my hand in your hand
Say it's great to be alive
No one's going to find us
No matter how they try
No one's going to find us
It's wonderful so wild beneath the sky


Sleeping in the open
See the shadows softly moving
Take a train towards the southlands
Our time was never better
We shall pass the sights of splendor
On the door of a new life
It had to happen soon i guess
Whether it is wrong or it is right


We learned to be so graceful
Watching wild horses running
And from those agile angels
We knew the tide was turning
For we watched as on the skyway
The herons circled slowly
While we mere mortals watched them fly
Our sleepless eyes grew heavy

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the album rare masters

I may not seem your ideal when you look into my eyes
I don't smoke, i don't tell jokes, i'm not the custom made size
But baby let me take you out on the highway for a while
I'll show yow where the man in me is when he doesn't hide
Well he's cruising in the fast lane, stuck behind the wheel
Jekyll and hyde going on inside when i'm your automobile

Let me be your car for a while child
Shift me into gear and i'll be there
Fill me up with five star gasoline girl
I'll be your car, i'll take you anywhere


Let me be your car, come on and drive me
I'm a speedy little boy down deep inside
I got bucket seats and two speed window cleaners
Just let me be your car, oh come on and ride


I can't dance, i don't dig it, i can't see it at all
You say i'm just a specimen, and baby i can crawl
Well my physique don't look the way the physiques really should
But then again i've got an engine underneath my hood


When i'm cutting up the road with a sports car on my tail
Frankenstein's inside my mind, and the wind's inside my sails

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk single in november, 1973

Welcome to my christmas song
I'd like to thank you for the year
So i'm sending you this christmas card
To say it's nice to have you here
I'd like to sing about all the things
Your eyes and mind can see
So hop aboard the turntable
Oh step into christmas with me

Step into christmas
Let's join together
We can watch the snow fall forever and ever
Eat, drink and be merry
Come along with me
Step into christmas
The admission's free


Take care in all you do next year
And keep smiling through the days
If we can help to entertain you
Oh we will find the ways
So merry christmas one and all
There's no place i'd rather be
Than asking you if you'd oblige
Stepping into christmas with me

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk b-side in may, 1975

I hear tell some playboy has kidnapped your heart
With his plane and his plans for games after dark
Just a pain in his pocket, and the price of a room
Where the second hand sheets smell of stale perfume

If there's sharks in the water, don't swim where it's deep
For the taste of success can be bitter and sweet
It could be alright that i act like a child
But you'll be the loser when the jokers run wild


You're just playing the game, but the stakes are too high
What will you do when the chips start to fly
When the deck's stacked against you, and the living gets hard
Oh it's four walls of madness in this house of cards


Common you call me, but i know there's time
In a handful of diamonds, a heart's hard to find
And your house of cards starts weighing you down
Your nights become restless when the clubs start to pound