All Live
Album - 24 aprile 2012 - Debaser id 828557

©1982 by Gordon Lightfoot

If you see me smile don't think I'm acting strange
I got my just reward for all my pains
If you see me on the TV talking proud
Please understand if I don't talk too loud

Step around and dance a bit
Polish up the dice
Set 'em loose and let 'em roll
This is my advice
Keep your mind a mystery
Running hot 'n cold
She's more than money
She's 14 karat gold

If you wonder why I'm acting up this way
Gonna cash my chips I'm leaving town today
I got more love than I could ever spend
So long, farewell, good-bye, this is the end

Step around and dance a bit
Polish up the dice
Set 'em loose and let 'em roll
Be as cool as ice
Keep your mind a mystery
Running hot 'n cold
She's more than money
She's 14 karat gold

If you get hit by the bug that bit on me
If you get caught with something soft and sweet
If you get found with something you can't waste
Then listen bud, let me give you a taste

Step around and dance a bit
Polish up the dice
Set 'em loose and let 'em roll
This is my advice
Keep your mind a mystery
Running hot 'n cold
She's more than money
She's 14 karat gold. Sold.

Step around and dance a bit
Polish up the dice
Set 'em loose and let 'em roll
Be as cool as ice
Keep your mind a mystery
Running hot 'n cold
She's more than money
She's 14 karat gold

You're as soft as the rose
You're as sweet as the honey
You're as warm as the bright morning sun
You're as cool as the breeze on the last days of April
You're as fine as fine can be
You're like time is to space
You're like faith is to trustin'
You're like blue is to feelin' unkind
You're like joy is for love,
You're like dreams are for chasin'
You're as fine as fine can be

And when I am gone my thoughts are all with you
You're my little angel you see
You're as bright as the moon
You're as light as a feather
You're as fine as fine can be

Like the rain is for the crops
You're like food for my thoughts
You're like true is for knowin' what's not
You're like leaves are for trees
You're like bees are for buzzin'
You're as fine as fine can be

You're as bright as the moon
You're as light as a feather
You're as fine as fine can be

Picking up the pieces of my sweet shattered dream
I wonder how the old folks are tonight
Her name was Ann and I'll be damned if I recall her face
She left me not knowing what to do

Carefree Highway, let me slip away on you
Carefree Highway, you seen better days
The morning after blues from my head down to my shoes
Carefree Highway, let me slip away, slip away on you

Turning back the pages to the times I love best
I wonder if she'll ever do the same
Now the thing that I call living is just being satisfied
With knowing I got no one left to blame

Carefree Highway, got to see you my old flame
Carefree Highway, you seen better days
The morning after blues from my head down to my shoes
Carefree Highway, let me slip away, slip away on you

Searching through the fragments of my dream shattered sleep
I wonder if the years have closed her mind
I guess it must be wanderlust or trying to get free
From the good old faithful feeling we once knew

Carefree Highway, let me slip away on you
Carefree Highway, you seen better days
The morning after blues from my head down to my shoes
Carefree Highway, let me slip away, slip away on you
Let me slip away on you
Carefree Highway, got to see you my old flame
Carefree Highway, you seen better days
The morning after blues from my head down to my shoes
Carefree Highway, let me slip away, slip away on you

Now it looks to me like the same old place,
in the sky it looks like rain.
The same old town with the same old streets,
my address has not changed.
You can find me there with the door shut tight,
and the one wish that remains.

Baby step back, baby step back,
either step up or step back.

Now you know I don't write no bad checks,
I have no wish to repent.
I've seen a few but whatever I do,
I don't cause no accidents.
Whiskey and wine help me pass the time,
I don't leave no evidence.

Baby step back, baby step back,
either step up or step back.
Baby step back, baby step back,
either step up or step back.

(inst.)

Still I don't kneel down I was born to fight,
so you best leave me alone.
Maybe I'll get much more than I need,
or much less than I should own,
last of all let me say it again,
either step up or step on.

Baby step back, baby step back,
either step up or step back.
Baby walk back, baby walk back,
either walk on or walk back.

(inst.)

Baby step back, baby step back,
either step up or step back.
Baby walk back, baby walk back,
either walk on or walk back.
Baby step back, baby step back,
either step up or step back.

(fade)

Let me reach out love and touch you
Let me hold you for awhile
I've been all around the world
Oh how I long to see you smile
There's a shadow on the moon
And the waters here below
Do not shine the way they should
And I love you just in case you didn't know
Let it go,
Let it happen like it happened once before
It's a wicked wind
And it chills me to the bone
And if you do not believe me
Come and gaze upon the shadow at your door

Won't you lie down by me baby
Run your fingers through my hands
I've been all around the town
And still I do not understand
Is it me or is it you
Or the shadow of a dream
Is it wrong to be in love
Could it be the finest love I've ever seen

Set it free,
Let it happen like it happened once before
It's a wicked wind
And it chills me to the bone
And if you do not believe me
Come and gaze upon the shadow at your door

Please kiss me gently darlin'
Where the river runs away
From the mountains in the springtime
On a blue and windy day
When there's beauty all around
As the shades of night grow deep
As the morning stars grow dim
They will find us in the shadows fast asleep

Let it go,
Let it happen like it happened once before
It's a wicked wind
And it chills me to the bone
And if you do not believe me
Come and gaze upon the shadow at your door

Rainy day people always seem to know when it's time to call
Rainy day people don't talk, they just listen till they've heard it all
Rainy day lovers don't lie when they tell 'ya they've been down like you
Rainy day people don't mind if you're cryin' a tear or two

If you get lonely, all you really need is that rainy day love
Rainy day people all know there's no sorrow they can't rise above
Rainy day lovers don't love any others, that would not be kind
Rainy day people all know how it hangs on a piece of mind

Rainy day lovers don't lie when they tell you, they've been down there too
Rainy day people don't mind if you're cryin' a tear or two.

Rainy day people always seem to know when you're feeling blue
High stepping strutters who land in the gutters sometimes need one too
Take it or leave it, or try to believe it
If you've been down too long

Rainy day lovers don't hide love inside they just pass it on
Rainy day lovers don't hide love inside they just pass it on

There's a kind of a restless feeling and it pulls me from within
It sets my senses reeling and my wheels begin to spin
In the quietude of winter you can hear the wild geese cry
And I will always love that sound until the day I die
There's a plain and a simple answer to each and every quest
From every quiet dance who might be a special guest
In a movie made for TV or a late night interview
You might even find them on the Young and the Restless too

Do ya get that restless feelin' when you hear a whistle blast
Like an echo from the past
Of an old engine flyin' down a road that's ironcast

The lake is blue, the sky is gray, the leaves have turned to gold
The wild goose will be on her way, the weather's much too cold
When the muskie and the old trout too have all gone down to rest
We will be returning to the things that we love best

Do ya get that restless yearning when you think about your dad
And the scrimshaw that he had
Of an old schooner rovin' 'neath a sky that's ironclad

There's a kind of a restless feeling and it catches you off guard
As we gaze off at the distance through the trees in my back yard
I can feel that restless yearning of those geese as off they roam
Then trade that for a warm bed and a place I can call home

Will ya get that restless yearning when you hear the wicked blast
Of a spectre from the past
Of a cold diesel rollin' down a road that's built to last

Still I get that restless feelin' when I hear a whistle blast
See an image from the past
Of an old schooner flyin' down a sky that's overcast

Get out old Dan's records
Get out old Dan's records
We will dance the whole night long
It's fun to play the old time songs
If old Dan could see us now
I know he'd be so proud
Bring out old Dan's records
Bring out old Dan's records
I remember my Aunt Bea
She'd dance with Dan till two or three
If old Dan could see he now
I know he'd shout out loud

Dig out old Dan's records
Bring out old Dan's records
We're all here, we've all got dates
We'll dance all night to the seventy-eights
If old Dan could see us now
I know he'd be so proud
If old Dan were with us still
I know he'd come around

Get out old Dan's records
Dig out old Dan's records
Back to nineteen thirty-five
The foxtrot, jitterbug 'n jive
If old Dan could see us now
I know he'd be so proud

Get out old Dan's records
Bring out old Dan's records
High above the fireplace
There's a smile on old Dan's face
If old Dan could see us now
I know he'd be so proud
If old Dan were with us still
I know he'd come around

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
Then later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
When the wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
T'was the witch of November come stealin'
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashin'
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck
Sayin' "Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya"
At seven p.m. a main hatchway caved in
He said, "Fellas, it's been good to know ya"
The captain wired in he had water comin' in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below, Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early

Once upon a time I was on my own
Once upon a time like you've never known
Once upon a time I would be impressed
Once upon a time my life would be obsessed
Once upon a time, once upon a day when
I was in my prime, once along the way
If you want to know my secret don't come runnin' after me
For I am just a painter passing through in history

Yesterday is gone, yesterday's alright
Yesterday belongs in my dreams at night
Yesterday is swell, yesterday is great
Yesterday is strong, remembering can wait
Once upon a time, once upon a day when
I was in my prime, once along the way

If you want to know an answer I can't turn your life around
For I am just a painter passing through the underground

I was in my stride, always at my game
Here comes mister cool, along the walk of fame
I was in demand, always in control
The world was in my hands, my touch had turn to gold
Once upon a time, I was in a daze when
I was in my prime, once along the way

If you want to know my secret don't come runnin' after me
For I am just a painter passing through in history

Now that I am old, let me rest a spell
All that I am told, I can never tell
Never in my life, never will it pass
I am still alone, remembering at last
Once upon a time, once upon a day when
I was in my prime, once along the way

If you want to know an answer I can't turn your life around
For I am just a painter passing through the underground

If you want to know my secret don't come runnin' after me
For I am just a painter passing through in history

If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old-time movie
'Bout a ghost from a wishin' well
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
You know that ghost is me
And I will never be set free
As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see

If I could read your mind, love
What a tale your thoughts could tell
Just like a paperback novel
The kind that drugstores sell
When you reach the part where the heartaches come
The hero would be me
But heroes often fail
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take

I'd walk away like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three-way script
Enter number two
A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me
But for now love, let's be real
I never thought I could act this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it
I don't know where we went wrong
But the feeling's gone and I just can't get it back

If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old-time movie
'Bout a ghost from a wishin' well
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
But stories always end
And if you read between the lines
You'll know that I'm just tryin' to understand
The feelings that you lack
I never thought I could feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it
I don't know where we went wrong
But the feeling's gone and I just can't get it back

There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
when the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
when the green dark forest was too silent to be real
But time has no beginnings and hist'ry has no bounds
as to this verdant country they came from all around
They sailed upon her waterways and they walked the forests tall
built the mines, mills and the factories for the good of us all

And when the young man's fancy was turnin' to the spring
the railroad men grew restless for to hear the hammers ring
Their minds were overflowing with the visions of their day
and many a fortune lost and won and many a debt to pay

For they looked in the future and what did they see
They saw an iron road runnin' from the sea to the sea
Bringin' the goods to a young growin' land
all up through the seaports and into their hands

Look away said they across this mighty land
from the eastern shore to the western strand
Bring in the workers and bring up the rails
we gotta lay down the tracks and tear up the trails
Open 'er heart let the life blood flow
gotta get on our way 'cause we're movin' too slow

Bring in the workers and bring up the rails
we're gonna lay down the tracks and tear up the trails
Open 'er heart let the life blood flow
gotta get on our way 'cause we're movin' too slow
get on our way 'cause we're movin' too slow

Behind the blue Rockies the sun is declinin'
The stars, they come stealin' at the close of the day
Across the wide prairie our loved ones lie sleeping
beyond the dark oceans in a place far away

We are the navvies who work upon the railway
swingin' our hammers in the bright blazin' sun
Livin' on stew and drinkin' bad whiskey
bendin' our backs 'til the long days are done

We are the navvies who work upon the railway
swingin' our hammers in the bright blazin' sun
Layin' down track and buildin' the bridges
bendin' our backs 'til the railroad is done

So over the mountains and over the plains
into the muskeg and into the rain
up the St. Lawrence all the way to Gaspe
swingin' our hammers and drawin' our pay
Layin' 'em in and tyin' 'em down
away to the bunkhouse and into the town
a dollar a day and a place for my head
a drink to the livin' a toast to the dead

Oh the song of the future has been sung
all the battles have been won
On the mountain tops we stand
all the world at our command
We have opened up the soil
with our teardrops and our toil

For there was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
when the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
when the green dark forest was too silent to be real
when the green dark forest was too silent to be real
And many are the dead men too silent... to be real

In the early morning rain with a dollar in my hand
With an aching in my heart and my pockets full of sand
Now, I'm a long way from home and I miss my loved ones so
In the early morning rain with no place to go

Out on runway number nine a big 707's set to go
But, I'm stuck here in the grass where the cold wind blows
Now, the liquor tasted good and the women all were fast
Well, there she goes, my friend, well she's going down at last

Hear the mighty engines roar - see the silver bird on high
She's away and westward bound - far above the clouds she'll fly


There the morning rain don't fall and the sun always shines
She'll be flying over my home in about three hours time

This old airport's got me down - it's no earthly good to me
'cause I'm stuck here on the ground as cold and drunk as I can be
You can't jump a jet plane like you can a freight train
So, I'd best be on my way in the early morning rain

You can't jump a jet plane like you can a freight train
So, I'd best be on my way in the early morning rain

I Can See Her Lyin' Back In Her Satin Dress
In A Room Where Ya Do What Ya Don't Confess

Sundown, You Better Take Care
If I Find You Beenn Creepin' 'Round My Back Stairs
Sundown, Ya Better Take Care
If I Find You Been Creepin' 'Round My Back Stairs

She's Been Lookin' Like A Queen In A Sailor's Dream
And She Don't Always Say What She Really Means

Sometimes I Think It's A Shame
When I Get Feelin' Better When I'm Feelin' No Pain
Sometimes I Think It's A Shame
When I Get Feelin' Better When I'm Feelin' No Pain

I Can Picture Every Move That A Man Could Make
Getting Lost In Her Lovin' Is Your First Mistake

Sundown, You Better Take Care
If I Find You Been Creepin' 'Round My Back Stairs
Sometimes I Think It's A Sin
When I Feel Like I'm Winnin' When I'm Losin' Again

I Can See Her Lookin' Fast In Her Faded Jeans
She's A Hard Lovin' Woman, Got Me Feelin' Mean

Sometimes I Think It's A Shame
When I Get Feelin' Better When I'm Feelin' No Pain
Sundown, You Better Take Care
If I Find You Been Creepin' 'Round My Back Stairs
Sundown, You Better Take Care
If I Find You Been Creepin' 'Round My Back Stairs
Sometimes I Think It's A Sin
When I Feel Like I'm Winnin' When I'm Losin' Again