The Collection

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the album don't shoot me i'm only the piano player

I was sitting in the classroom
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 classroom 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 classroom
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

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the album tumbleweed connection

I pulled out my stage coach times
And i read the latest news
I tapped my feet in dumb surprise
And of course i saw they knew
The pinkertons pulled out my bags
And asked me for my name
I stuttered out my answer
And hung my head in shame

Now they've found me
At last they've found me
It's hard to run
From a starving family
Now they've found me
Well i won't run
I'm tired of hearing
There goes a well-known gun


Now i've seen this chain gang
Lord i say let me see my priest
I couldn't have faced your desert sand
Old burning brown backed beast
The poor house they hit me for my kin
And claimed my crumbling walls
Now i know how reno felt
When he ran from the law


Now they've found me
At last they've found me
It's hard to run
From a starving family
Now they've found me
Well i won't run
I'm tired of hearing
There goes a well-known gun


Now they've found me
Lord i say at last they've found me
It's hard to run
From a starving family
Lord i say now they've found me
Well i won't run
I'm tired of hearing
There goes a well-known gun


Lord i say now they've found me
At last they've found me
It's hard to run
From a starving family
Now they've found me
I won't run
I'm tired of hearing
There goes a well-known gun

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the album tumbleweed connection

In the quiet silent seconds i turned off the light switch
And i came down to meet you in the half light the moon left
While a cluster of night jars sang some songs out of tune
A mantle of bright light shone down from a room

Come down in time i still hear her say
So clear in my ear like it was today
Come down in time was the message she gave
Come down in time and i'll meet you half way


Well i don't know if i should have heard her as yet
But a true love like hers is a hard love to get
And i've walked most all the way and i ain't heard her call
And i'm getting to thinking if she's coming at all


Come down in time i still hear her say
So clear in my ear like it was today
Come down in time was the message she gave
Come down in time and i'll meet you half way


There are women and women and some hold you tight
While some leave you counting the stars in the night

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the album don't shoot me i'm only the piano player

I remember when rock was young
Me and suzie had so much fun
Holding hands and skimming 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 hopping and bopping to the crocodile rock

Well crocodile rocking is something shocking
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 suzie wore her dresses tight
And the crocodile rocking was out of sight


But the years went by and the rock just died
Suzie went and left us for some foreign guy
Long nights crying by the record machine
Dreaming of my chevy and my old blue jeans
But they'll never kill the thrills we've got
Burning up to the crocodile rock
Learning fast as the weeks went past
We really thought the crocodile rock would last

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the album don't shoot me i'm only the piano player

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

Well i can't help thinking
About the times
You were a wife of mine
You aimed to please me
Cooked black-eyed peas-me
Made elderberry wine


Drunk all the time
Feeling fine on elderberry wine
Those were the days
We'd lay 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 they couldn't stand
The bottle went round
Like a woman down south
Passed on from hand to hand

i need you to turn to
Elton john & bernie taupin

You

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Available on the album goodbye yellow brick road

I'm back on dry land once again
Opportunity awaits me like a rat in the drain
We're all hunting honey with money to burn
Just a short time to show you the tricks that we've learned

If the boys all behave themselves here
Well there's pretty young ladies and beer in the rear
You won't need a gutter to sleep in tonight
Oh the prices i charge here will see you alright


So she lays down beside me again
My sweet painted lady, the one with no name
Many have used her and many still do
There's a place in the world for a woman like you


Oh sweet painted lady
Seems it's always been the same
Getting paid for being laid
Guess that's the name of the game


Forget us we'll have gone very soon
Just forget we ever slept in your rooms
And we'll leave the smell of the sea in your beds
Where love's just a job and nothing is said