Stand Up

Did you hear mother --
Saying i'm wrong but i know i'm right.
Did you hear father?
Calling my name into the night.
Saying i'll never be what i am now.
Telling me i'll never find what i've already found.
It was they who were wrong,
And for them here's a song.
Did you hear baby --
Come back and tell you the things he's seen.
Did it surprise you
To be picked up at eight in a limousine?
Doing the things he's accustomed to do.
Which at one time it seemed like a dream
Now it's true.
And unknowing
You made it all happen this way.

Did you hear mother --
Saying i'm wrong but i know i'm right.
Did you hear father?
Calling my name into the night.
Saying i'll never be what i am now.
Telling me i'll never find what i've already found.
It was they who were wrong
And for them here's a song.

Whenever i get to feel this way,
Try to find new words to say,
I think about the bad old days
We used to know.
Nights of winter turn me cold --
Fears of dying, getting old.
We ran the race and the race was won
By running slowly.

Could be soon we'll cease to sound,
Slowly upstairs, faster down.
Then to revisit stony grounds,
We used to know.

Remembering mornings, shillings spent,
Made no sense to leave the bed.
The bad old days they came and went
Giving way to fruitful years.

Saving up the birds in hand
While in the bush the others land.
Take what we can before the man
Says it's time to go.

Each to his own way i'll go mine.
Best of luck in what you find.
But for your own sake remember times
We used to know.

What a sight for my eyes
To see you in sleep.
Could it stop the sun rise
Hearing you weep?
You're not seen, you're not heard
But i stand by my word.
Came a thousand miles
Just to catch you while you're smiling.
What a day for laughter
And walking at night.
Me following after, your hand holding tight.
And the memory stays clear with the song that you hear.
If i can but make
The words awake the feeling.

What a reason for waiting
And dreaming of dreams.
So here's hoping you've faith in impossible schemes,
That are born in the sigh of the wind blowing by
While the dimming light brings the end to a night of loving.

My first and last time with you
And we had some fun.
Went walking through the trees, yeah!
And then i kissed you once.
Oh i want to see you soon
But i wonder how.
It was a new day yesterday
But it's an old day now.
Spent a long time looking
For a game to play.
My luck should be so bad now
To turn out this way.
Oh i had to leave today
Just when i thought i'd found you.
It was a new day yesterday
But it's an old day now.

My telephone wakes me in the morning --
Have to get up to answer the call.
So i think i'll go back to the family
Where no one can ring me at all.
Living this life has its problems
So i think that i'll give it a break.
Oh, i'm going back to the family
`cos i've had about all i can take.
Master's in the counting house
Counting all his money.
Sister's sitting by the mirror --
She thinks her hair looks funny.
And here am i thinking to myself
Just wond'ring what things to do.

I think i enjoyed all my problems
Where i did not get nothing for free.
Oh, i'm going back to the family --
Doing nothing is bothering me.
I'll get a train back to the city
That soft life is getting me down.
There's more fun away from the family
Get some action when i pull into town.

Everything i do is wrong,
What the hell was i thinking?
Phone keeps ringing all day long
I got no time for thinking.
And every day has the same old way
Of giving me too much to do.