Elton John (1970)

1995 CD Re-Issue Bonus Tracks
11. Bad Side Of The Moon (1970 Single B-Side to Border Song)
12. Grey Seal (Original Version, 1970 Single B-Side to Rock 'n' Roll Madonna)
13. Rock And Roll Madonna (1970 Single A-Side)

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Your Song
It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen


I Need You To Turn To
You're not a ship to carry my life
You are nailed to my love in many lonely nights.
I've strayed from the cottages and found myself here
For I need your love. Your love protects my fears.

And I wonder sometimes, and I know I'm unkind,
But I need you to turn to when I act so blind.
Oh I need you to turn to when I lose control
You're my guardian angel who keeps out the cold.

Did you paint your smile on when I said I knew
That my reason for living was for loving you
We're related in feeling, but you're high above
You're pure and you're gentle, with the grace of a dove.

And I wonder sometimes, and I know I'm unkind,
But I need you to turn to when I act so blind.
Oh I need you to turn to when I lose control
You're my guardian angel who keeps out the cold.


Take Me To The Pilot
If you feel that it's real I'm on trial
And I'm here in your prison
Like a coin in your mint
I am dented and I'm spent with high treason

Through a glass eye your throne
Is the one danger zone
Take me to the pilot for control
Take me to the pilot of your soul

Take me to the pilot
Lead me through the chamber
Take me to the pilot
I am but a stranger

Take me to the pilot
Lead me through the chamber
Take me to the pilot
I am but a stranger

Well I know he's not old
And I'm told he's a virgin
For he may be she
But what I'm told is never for certain

Through a glass eye your throne
Is the one danger zone
Take me to the pilot for control
Take me to the pilot of your soul, yeah, yeah

Take me to the pilot
Lead me through the chamber
Take me to the pilot
I am but a stranger

Take me to the pilot
Lead me through the chamber
Take me to the pilot
I am but a stranger

Take me, take me, oh, oh
Take me, take me, yeah, yeah
Take me, take me, baby, baby, baby
Take me, take me

No Shoe Strings On Louise
Lady love rides a big red Cadillac
Buys the hoedown show salt and beans
Goes to church to pray for Lucifer
She milked the male population clean

So ride in line shake yourself by the hand
Live your life inside a paper can
But you'll never get to pick and choose
She's bought you and sold you
There ain't no shoe strings on Louise

Come on down, come on down from the ladder
Henry get your head, get your head out of them clouds
What she wants is to go kissing on a swine herd
You might as well kiss the boss man's cow

So ride in line shake yourself by the hand
Live your life inside a paper can
But you'll never get to pick and choose
She's bought you and sold you
There ain't no shoestrings on Louise, come on, gal

All those city women who want to make us poor men
And this land's got the worse for the worrying
Yeah, I got married at the early age of fourteen
And I've been worrying about the way you'll be loving them

Yeah, so ride in line shake yourself by the hand
Live your life inside a paper can
But you'll never get to pick and choose
She's bought you and sold you
There ain't no shoe strings on Louise, oh, yeah
There ain't no shoe strings on Louise, yeah, oh...

Episode At Hienton
I was one as you were one
And we were two so much in love forever
I loved the white socks that you wore
But you don't wear white socks no more, now you're a woman
I joked about your turned-up nose
And criticized your school girl clothes
But would I then have paced these roads to love you
For seasons come and seasons go
Bring forth the rain the sun and snow
Make Valerie a woman
And Valerie is lonely

No more to roam on the snow hills of Hienton
Undecided with the guardians of the older generation
A doormat was a sign of welcome
In the winter months to come
And in the summer laughing
Through the castle ruins we'd run

For the quadrangle sang to the sun
And the grace of our feeling
And the candle burned low as we talked of the future
Underneath the ceiling
There were tears in the sky
And the clouds in your eyes were just cover
For your thighs were the cushions
Of my love and yours for each other
The songs still are sung
It was fun to be young
But please don't be sad where 'ere you are

I am who I am
You are who you are
Now Valerie's a woman
Now Valerie's a woman
Now Valerie's a woman


Sixty Years On
Who'll walk me down to church when I'm sixty years of age?
When the ragged dog they gave me has been ten years in the grave
And señorita play guitar, play it just for you
My rosary has broken and my beads have all slipped through

You've hung up your great coat and you've laid down your gun
You know the war you fought in wasn't too much fun
And the future you're giving me holds nothing for a gun
I've no wish to be living sixty years on, on, on

Yes I'll sit with you and talk let your eyes relive again
I know my vintage prayers would be very much the same
And Magdelena plays the organ, plays it just for you
Your choral lamp that burns so low when you are passing through

And the future you're giving me holds nothing for a gun
I've no wish to be living sixty years on

Here I am
When I'm sixty years of age
Here I am
In the land of the morning star (Sixty years on)
Here I am
When I'm sixty years of age
Here I am
In the land of the morning star (Sixty years on)

Here I am
When I'm sixty years of age
Here I am
In the land of the morning star (Sixty years on)
Here I am
When I'm sixty years of age
Here I am
In the land of the morning star (Sixty years on)
(fade)

Border Song
Holy Moses I have been removed
I have seen the specter he has been here too
Distant cousin from down the line
Brand of people who ain't my kind
Holy Moses I have been removed

Holy Moses I have been deceived
Now the wind has changed direction and I'll have to leave
Won't you please excuse my frankness but it's not my cup of tea
Holy Moses I have been deceived

I'm going back to the border
Where my affairs, my affairs ain't abused
I can't take any more bad water
I've been poisoned from my head down to my shoes

Holy Moses I have been deceived
Holy Moses let us live in peace
Let us strive to find a way to make all hatred cease
There's a man over there what's his color I don't care
He's my brother let us live in peace
He's my brother let us live in peace
He's my brother let us live in peace

The Greatest Discovery
Peering out of tiny eyes
The grubby hands that gripped the rail
Wiped the window clean of frost
As the morning air laid on the latch
A whistle awakened someone there
Next door to the nursery just down the hall
A strange new sound you never heard before
The strange new sound that make boys explore
Tread neat so small those little feet
Amid the morning his small heart beats
So much excitement yesterday
That must be rewarded. Must be displayed.

Large hands lift him through the air
Excited eyes contain him there
The eyes of those he loves and knows
But what's this extra bed just here
His puzzled head tipped to one side
Amazement swims in those bright green eyes
Glancing down upon this thing
That makes strange sounds. Strange sounds that sing.

In those silent happy seconds
That surround the sound of this event
A parent smile is made in moments
They have made for you a friend
And all you ever learned from them
Until you grew much older
Did not compare with when they said
This is your brand new brother.
This is your brand new brother.
This is your brand new brother, la la la la la la...
(fade)

The Cage
Have you ever lived in a cage
Where you live to be whipped and be tamed
For I've never loved in a cage
Or talked to a friend or just waved

Well I walk while they talk about virtue
Just raised on my back legs and snarled
Watched you kiss your old daddy with passion
And tell dirty jokes as he died

But I'm damned when I really care there
For the cellar's the room in your lives
Where you lace yourself with bad whiskey
And close the cage doors on your life

Well I pray while you bathe in bad water
Sing songs that I learnt as a boy
Then break all the bones in my body
On the bars you can never destroy


The King Must Die
No man's a jester playing Shakespeare
Round your throne room floor
While the juggler's act is danced upon
The crown that you once more

And sooner or later
Everybody's kingdom must end
And I'm so afraid your courtiers
Cannot be called best friends

Caesar's had your troubles
Widows have to cry
While mercenaries in cloisters sing
And the king must die

Some men are better staying sailors
Take my word and go
But tell the ostler that his name was
The very first they chose

And if my hands are stained forever
And the altar should refuse me
Would you let me in, would you let me in, would you let me in
Should I cry sanctuary?

Caesar's had your troubles
Widows have to cry
While mercenaries in cloisters sing
And the king must die

Yeah, the king must die
The king must die, oh yeah

No man's a jester playing Shakespeare
Round your throne room floor
While the juggler's act is danced upon
The crown that you once more

The king is dead, the king is dead
The king is dead, the king is dead
Long live the King

Bad Side Of The Moon
It seems as though I've lived my life
On the bad side of the moon
To stir your dregs in sickness still
Without the rustic spoon

Common people live with me
Where the light has never shone
And the hermits flock like hummingbirds
To speak in a foreign tongue

I'm a light world away
From the people who make me stay
Sitting on the bad side of the moon

There ain't no need for watchdogs here
To justify our ways
We live our life in manacles
The main cause of our stay


Exiled here from other worlds
My sentence comes too soon
Why should I be made to pay
On the bad side of the moon


Grey Seal
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 a 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

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

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

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


Rock And Roll Madonna
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