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
Released as a uk b-side in may, 1969

I looked up from my glass into the sky
There's no one in my comic book to buy
Calendar swung on the wall held by a rusty nail
Down came the strange rain and washed my thoughts away

So stop in the sky and tell me why
You're changing your colours before my eyes
Yellow, blue, green and grey
Settled on the window pane


It made the rain that came seem strange
Just like strange rain
It made the rain that came seem strange
Just like strange rain


Still i sit beside the fire and watched as it fell
Come in colours from above into my citadel
My eyes are all embriodered with the rainbow you have made
And now it seems as though it's just, just like strange rain

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk b-side in may, 1974

Ooh she said the croud just loved you
My name's angel and i'm sixteen
I really love your band and your funny accent
Sure would like a cruise in your limousine

Then she said how about a rubdown
You're so cute, i'm so mean
The way you hold your guitar really gets me
I can show you tricks that you ain't never seen


Sick city, nobody to love you
Oh but sometimes i can taste you when i'm feeling weak
Sick city, isn't it a pity
That you can't float above it when the bottom leaks
Oh, sick city

Hey man how's about a handout
All you dudes just loaded down
Just a little sugar man makes me sweeter
I like to sit at home and watch the world go round


Stage-door monkey's on my back
Begging me to save his life
Can't he understand we're not a healing show
We're just here to play some music for the kids tonight

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

Go jack-rabbit running through the wood
You had a good night and you feel real loose
Heard they got you going round the goosecreek shed
Trying to fill your belly full of buckshot lead

Go jack-rabbit get the cabbage patch
Farmer left the back porch door on the latch
Heard you coming and he got his gun
Better go jack-rabbit better start to run


Go jack-rabbit running through the wood
You had a good night and you feel real loose
Gunfire breaking up the peaceful night
Jack-rabbit lying in the cold daylight

Music by elton john
Lyrics by bernie taupin
Released as a uk b-side in august, 1974

Your life stepped lightly out our hands
When no one's looking out you understand
Your world was a wheel but the cog ceased to turn
The bottom fell out and our fingers got burned

And there's a cold, cold highway that the wind whistles down
Where the corners turn blind like the graveyard ground
Oh your black icy snare once cut down my friend
In the deepest dark winter when the world seemed to end


Every new version of the way of life
Leaves you reckless and searching for stars in the night
But whose kid are you when they finally decide
The lifestyle you led and the way that you died


But they're oh so simple, they're still trying to tell
The difference for you between heaven and hell
To glorify something, your legends are found
But all they bought you was a hole in the ground


Years rolling by just like a dream
I'm partly human and i'm partly machine
They've lost you and fate put your name on a stone
Perhaps now my friend they might leave you alone

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
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

Written by john lennon and paul mccartney
Released as a uk single in november, 1974

She was just seventeen
And you know what i mean
And the way she looked was way beyond compare
I couldn't dance with another
When i saw her standing there

Well she looked at me
And i could see
That before too long i fell in love with her
I couldn't dance with another
When i saw here standing there


Well my heart went boom
As i crossed that room
And i held her hand in mine


Oh we danced through the night
And we held each other tight
And before too long i feel in love with her
I couldn't dance with another
When i saw here standing there

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

Written by elton john
Released as a uk single in 1968


I didn't mean to hurt you
You know it's just my way
Those things that i said yesterday
Were things i shouldn't say
Although you're blue
Just one thing i want you to do
Just forget all those things
That i said about you

`cause i've been loving you baby
Loving you baby for a long time
And if you go away
I just won't know what to do


Yes i've been loving you baby
Loving you baby for a long time
And you know in your heart
That i'll always worship you


I couldn't bear to see you go
Oh no no no no
So don't you feel sad
It's not the thing to do
Because i worry
If i know you're feeling blue
Please put your tears away
So nobody can see
`cause the last thing i want
Is for you to cry over me

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 may, 1969

Hey there
Look in the mirror
Are you afraid you might see me looking at you
Waiting, waiting at windows
Oh it's me that you need
Yes it's me and i'm waiting for you

But i remain silent
Oh i won't say a word
I leave you to realise i'm the light in your world
And it's me, yes it's me, yes it's me, yes it's me
That you're needing
It's me, yes it's me, yes it's me, yes it's me
That you need
Yes it's me, yes it's me, yes it's me
If you want to be living
I'm the one who's forgiving
Admit that it's me that you need


Watching, watching the swallows fly
It all means the same
Just like them
You can fly home again
But don't, no don't forget yesterday
Pride is an ugly word girl
And you still know my name

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

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