Billy Joel
|
An Innocent Man
Some people stay far away from the door
If there's a chance
of it opening up
They hear a voice in the hall outside
And hope that it
just passes by
Some people live with the fear of a touch
And the anger of
having been a fool
They will not listen to anyone
So nobody tells them a
lie
I know you're only protecting yourself
I know you're
thinking of somebody else
Someone who hurt you
But I'm not above
Making
up for the love
You've been denying you could ever feel
I'm not above
doing anything
To restore your faith if I can
Some people see through the
eyes of the old
Before they ever get look at the young
I'm only willing to
hear you cry
Because I am an innocent man
Oh yes I am
Some people say they will never believe
Another promise
they hear in the dark
Because they only remember too well
They heard
somebody tell them before
Some people sleep all alone every night
Instead
of taking a lover to bed
Some people find that's it's easier to hate
Than
to wait anymore
I know you don't want to hear what I say
I know you're
gonna keep turning away
But I've been there and if I can survive
I can
keep you alive
I'm not above going through it again
I'm not above being
cool for a while
If you're cruel to me I'll understand
Some people run from a possible fight
Some people figure
they can never win
And although this is a fight I can lose
The accused is
an innocent man
Oh yes I am
An innocent man
You know you only hurt yourself out of spite
I guess you'd
rather be a martyr tonight
That's your decision
But I'm not below
Anybody I know
If there's a chance of resurrecting a love
I'm not above
going back to the start
To find out where the heartache began
Some people hope for a miracle cure
Some people just accept
the world as it is
But I'm not willing to lay down and die
Because I am an
innocent man
I am an innocent man
Oh yes I am
An innocent man
The Ballad Of Billy The Kid
From a town known as Wheeling West Virginia
Rode a boy with
a six-gun in his hand
And his daring life of crime made him a legend in his
time
East and west of the Rio Grande
Well he started with a bank in
Colorado
In the pocket of his vest a Colt he hid
And his age and his size
took the teller by surprise
And the word spread of Billy the Kid
Well he never traveled heavy,
Yes he always rode alone,
And he soon put many older guns to shame
Well he never had a sweetheart
And he never had a home
But the cowboys and the ranchers knew his name
Well he robbed his way from Utah to Oklahoma
And the law
just couldn't seem to track him down
And it served his legend well
For the
folks loved to tell
'Bout when Billy the Kid came to town
One cold day a posse captured Billy
And the judge said
string him up for what he did
And the cowboys and their kin
Like the sea
came pouring in to watch
The hangin' of Billy the Kid
Well he never traveled heavy,
Yes he always rode alone,
And he soon put many older guns to shame
Well he never had a sweetheart
Tho' he finally found a home
Underneath the boothill grave that bears his
name
From a town known as Oysterbay, Long Island
Rode a boy with
a six-pack in his hand
And his daring life of crime made him a legend in his
time
East and west of the Rio Grande
Christie Lee
Let me tell you a story
About a woman and a man
Maybe
you will find familiar
Maybe you won't understand
The man's name I don't remember
He was always Joe to me
But I can't forget the woman
She was always Christie Lee
He was working in a night club
That's where he played the
saxophone
He used to fake stock arrangements
He left the customers alone
But one night before the last song
About a quarter to three
He saw her
standing at the coat check
And made his move on Christie Lee
Christie Lee, Christie
Lee
Christie Lee, Christie Lee
She was a nice piece of music
She had a rhythm all her own
He blew a solo like a blind man
She really dug his saxophone
She wanted
more than just an encore
And he could play in every key
He left the stage
and packed his alto
And took it home with Christie Lee
Oh I heard the man knew "the Bird" like the bible
You know
the man could blow an educated axe
He couldn't see that Christie Lee was a
woman
Who didn't need another lover
All she wanted was the sax
It took
a while for him to notice
It took a while for him to see
He was never in
control here
It was always Christie Lee
Christie Lee, Christie Lee
Christie Lee, Christie Lee
Oh the man took a calculated gamble
Yes the man had the
power to perform
But Christie Lee was more than he knew how to handle
She
didn't need him as a man
All she wanted was the horn
They say that Joe became a wino
They say he always drinks
alone
They say he stumbles like a blind man
They say he sold his saxophone
Even the band must face the music
That's what the moral is
to me
The only time you hit the high note
Is when you play for Christie
Lee
Christie Lee, Christie Lee
Christie Lee, Christie Lee
Everybody Has A Dream
While in these days of quiet desperation
As I wander
through the world in which I live
I search everywhere for some new
inspiration
But it's more than cold reality can give
If I need a cause for
celebration
Or a comfort I can use to ease my mind
I rely on my
imagination
And I dream of an imaginary time
I know that everybody has a
dream
Everybody has a dream
And this is my dream, my own
Just to be at
home
And to be all alone...with you
If I believe in all the words I'm
saying
And if a word from you can bring a better day
Then all I have are
these games that I've been playing
To keep my hope from crumbling away
So
let me lie and let me go on sleeping
And I will lose myself in palaces of
sand
And all the fantasies that I have been keeping
Will make the empty
hours easier to stand
I know that everybody has a dream
Everybody has a
dream
And this is my dream, my own
Just to be at home
And to be all
alone...with you
Goodnight Saigon
We met as soul mates
On Parris Island
We left as inmates
From an asylum
And we were sharp
As sharp as knives
And we were so gung
ho
To lay down our lives
We came in spastic
Like tameless horses
We left in
plastic
As numbered corpses
And we learned fast
To travel light
Our
arms were heavy
But our bellies were tight
We had no home front
We had no soft soap
They sent us
Playboy
They gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep
And shot on sight
And
prayed to Jesus Christ
With all of our might
We had no cameras
To shoot the landscape
We passed the
hash pipe
And played our Doors tapes
And it was dark
So dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our
mothers we'd write
And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go
down together
Yes we would all go down together
Remember Charlie
Remember Baker
They left their
childhood
On every acre
And who was wrong?
And who was right?
It
didn't matter in the thick of the fight
We held the day
In the palm
Of our hand
They ruled
the night
And the night
Seemed to last as long as six weeks
On Parris
Island
We held the coastline
They held the highlands
And they
were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of our motors
They
counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
And we would all go down
together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down
together
Keeping The Faith
If it seems like I've been lost
In let's remember
If you
think I'm feeling older
And missing my younger days
Oh, then you should
have known me much better
'Cause my past is something that never
Got in my
way
Oh no
Still I would not be here now
If I never had the hunger
And I'm not ashamed to say
The wild boys were my friends
Oh
'Cause I
never felt the desire
'Til their music set me on fire
And then I was
saved, yeah
That's why I'm keeping the faith
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Keeping the faith
We wore old matador boots
Only Flagg Brothers had them with
a Cuban heel
Iridescent socks with the same color shirt
And a tight pair
of chinos
Oh
I put on my shark skin jacket
You know the kind with the
velvet collar
And ditty-bop shades
Oh yeah
I took a fresh pack of
Luckies
And a mint called Sen-Sen
My old man's Trojans
And his Old
Spice after shave
Oh
Combed my hair in a pompadour
Like the rest of the
Romeos wore
A permanent wave, Yeah
We were keeping the faith
Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah
Keeping the faith
You can get just so much
From a good
thing
You can linger too long
In your dreams
Say goodbye to the
Oldies but goodies
'Cause the good ole days weren't
Always good
And
tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems
Learned stickball as a formal education
Lost a lot of
fights
But it taught me how to lose O.K.
Oh, I heard about sex
But not
enough
I found you could dance
And still look tough anyway
Oh yes I did
I found out a man ain't just being macho
Ate an awful lot of late night
drive-in food Drank a lot of take home pay
I thought I was the Duke of Earl
When I made it with a red-haired girl
In the Chevrolet. Oh yeah
We were
keeping the faith
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Keeping the faith
You know the good ole days weren't always good
And tomorrow
ain't as bad as it seems
I told you my reasons
For the whole revival
Now I'm
going outside to have
An ice cold beer in the shade
Oh, I'm going to
listen to my 45's
Ain't it wonderful to be alive
When the rock 'n' roll
plays, yeah
When the memory stays, yeah
I'm keeping the faith
Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah
Keeping the faith
I'm keeping the faith,
Yes I am
Piano Man
It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles
in
There's an old man sitting next to me
Making love to his tonic and gin
He says, "Son can you play me a memory
I'm not really sure
how it goes
But it's sad and it's sweet
And I knew it complete
When I
wore a younger man's clothes"
Sing us a song you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling alright
Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my
drinks for free
And he's quick with a joke or to light up your smoke
But
there's someplace that he'd rather be
He says, "Bill, I believe this is killing me"
As a smile
ran away from his face
"Well, I'm sure that I could be a movie star
If I
could get out of this place"
Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a
wife
And he's talking with Davy, who's still in the Navy
And probably will
be for life
And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen
slowly get stoned
Yes they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But
it's better than drinking alone
Sing us a song you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling alright
It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the manager
gives me a smile
'Cause he knows that it's me they've been coming to see
To forget about life for a while
And the piano sounds like a carnival
And the microphone
smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say
"Man what are you doing here?"
Sing us a song you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling alright
Stiletto
She cuts you once, she cuts you twice
But still you believe
The wound is so fresh you can taste the blood
But you don't have strength to
leave
You've been bought, you've been sold
You've been locked outside the
door
But you stand there pleadin'
With your insides bleedin'
'Cause
deep down you want some more
Then she says she wants forgiveness
It's such
a clever masquerade
She's so good with her stiletto
You don't even see the
blade
She cuts you hard, she cuts you deep
She's got so much
skill
She's so fascinating that you're still there waiting
When she comes
back for the kill
You've been slashed in the face
You've been left there
to bleed
You want to run away
But you know you're gonna stay
'Cause she
gives you what you need
Then she says she needs affection
While she
searches for the vein
She's so good with her stiletto
You don't really
mind the pain
She cuts you out, she cuts you down
She carves up your life
But you won't do nothing
As she keeps on cutting
'Cause you know you love
the knife
You've been bought, you've been sold
You've been locked outside
the door
But you stand there pleadin'
With your insides bleedin'
'Cause
deep down you want some more
Then she says she needs affection
While she
searches for the vein
She's so good with her stiletto
You don't really
mind the pain
The Stranger
Well we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we
take them out and show ourselves
When everyone has gone
Some are satin
some are steel
Some are silk and some are leather
They're the faces of the
stranger
But we love to try them on
Well, we all fall in love
But we
disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we
never tell
Why were you so surprised
That you never saw the stranger
Did you ever let your lover see
The stranger in yourself?
Don't be afraid
to try again
Everone goes south
Every now and then
You've done it, why
can't someone else?
You should know by now
You've been there yourself
Once I used to believe
I was such a great romancer
Then I came home to a
woman
That I could not recognize
When I pressed her for a reason
She
refused to even answer
It was then I felt the stranger
Kick me right
between the eyes
Well, we all fall in love
But we disregard the danger
Though we share so many secrets
There are some we never tell
Why were you
so surprised
That you never saw the stranger
Did you ever let your lover
see
The stranger in yourself?
Don't be afraid to try again
Everyone
goes south
Every now and then
You've done it why can't someone else?
You should know by now
You've been there yourself
You may never understand
How the stranger is inspired
But he isn't always evil
And he isn't always
wrong
Though you drown in good intentions
You will never quench the fire
You'll give in to your desire
When the stranger comes along.
copyright ©
László Zoltán 2012
e-mail: Literatura.hu