1) Rock and Roll, I gave You The Best Years of my Life.

I can still remember when I bought my first guitar,
Remember just how good the feeling was, put it proudly in my car,
And my family listened fifty times to my two song repertoire,
And I told my mum her only son was gonna be a star.
Bought all the Beatle records,
sounded just like Paul,
Bought all the old Chuck Berry’s, 78’s and all,
And I sat by my record player, playin’ every note they played,
And I watched them all on TV, makin every move they made.

CHORUS
Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life,
All the dreamy sunny Sundays,
all the moon-lit summer nights,
I was so busy in the back room writin’ love songs to you,
While you were changin’ your direction,
and you never even knew,
That I was always,
just one step behind you.

‘66 seemed like the year I was really goin’ somewhere,
We were living in San Francisco, with flowers in our hair,
Singing songs of kindness so the world would understand,
But the guys and me were something more than just another band,
And then ’69 in LA, came around so soon,
We were really making headway and writing lots of tunes,
And we must have played the wildest stuff we had ever played,
The way the crowds cried out for us,
we thought we had it made.

CHORUS
Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life,
All the crazy lazy young days,
all the magic moon-lit nights,
I was so busy on the road singin’ love songs to you,
While you were changin’ your direction,
and you never even knew,
That I was always,
just one step behind you.

’71 in Soho, when I saw Suzanne,
I was trying to go it solo, with someone else’s band,
And she came up to me later and I tooke her by the hand,
And I told her all my troubles and she seemed to understand,
And she followed me through London,
through a hundred hotel rooms,
Throught a hundred record companies who didn’t like my tunes,
And she followed me when, finally, I sold my old guitar,
And she tried to help me understand,
I’d never be a star.

CHORUS
Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life,
All the dreamy sunny Sundays,
all the moon-lit summer nights,
And though I never knew the magic of makin’ it with you,
Thank the Lord for giving me the little bit I knew,
And I will always be one step behind you.

FINAL CHORUS
Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life,
Singing out my love songs in the brightly flashing lights,
And though I never knew the magic of makin’ it with you,
Thank the Lord for giving me the little bit I knew,

REPEAT FINAL CHORUS
Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life,
All the dreamy sunny Sundays,
all the moon-lit summer nights,
I was so busy in the back room makin’ love songs to you,
While you were changin’ your direction,
and you never even knew,
That I was always,
just one step behind you.

2) Their Song

The world was young and no bird sung, And no man wandered the land,
And the only sound was the restless wind, And the waves that washed on the sand,
And was there something moving, Like a great bird over the land,
Was it shining bright in the sunlight, As it silently came down?

And did they run, did they run, In the strange hot sun on the lonely edge of the sea,
Did they stand and look at this lonely world, And wonder what it might be,
Did they fly, back into the sky?

Black as the light of a starless night, Was the cloud that covered the sky,
And down from the hill, the night was still,

Where the summer grasses were high,

And it shone like a light, so the farmer said,
And it never made a sound,
And it came in over the valley, And it landed there on the ground.

Do they come, do they come, When it seems no-one is ever likely to know,
On the darkened side of some lonely road, Do they stand there watching us go,
Do they fly, back into the sky?

3) Woman you Took My Life

Woman you were good to me,
did every single thing for me that you could do,
When I could see no point in going on,
I’d lift myself up knowing,
on another day,
I’d see you,

In my need I reached for you,
the steady hand to lead me through the darkest day,
You took me running, chasing after better things,
the laughter of another day,
Imaging how I felt then when I found,
that you had gone away.

CHORUS
Woman, you took my hopes,
you took my dreams,
Woman, you took my love, you took my schemes,
You left me nothing else to do,
but turn around and start anew,
Woman, when you walked out,
you took my life away with you.

Through a haze of fantasies,
fears and uncertainties you came to me,
A reason to be going on,
a hope when hope had nearly gone,
a will in me that had to be,
Imaging how I felt then when I found,
that you had gone away.

CHORUS

4) Life is What you Make It.

Here today and gone tomorrow,
life is short most people say,
There’s no way we can borrow,
any time from yesterday,
There are joys and there are sorrows and there’s one thing to understand,
We’ve got today and we’ve got tomorrow,
And we can make the best of them while we can.

CHORUS
Life is what you make of it,
what you take from it,
what you do with it.
You’re gonna find something great in it before you’re through with it, you know,
So don’t sit around just to wait for it,
And think it’ll happen some how, no,
You’ve got the life, go out and use it,
You’re the only one,
you’ve got to choose it,
You’ve got the right,
so don’t you refuse it now.

You’ve got the chance that you’re gonna make it,
And it’s the only one so you’ve got to take it,
Life can be what you want to make it now.

Where’s the rhyme and what’s the reason,
which way are we meant to go,
Why the stars and why the seasons,
no-one really seems to know,
Life it seems has many reasons and we may never understand,
But we’ve got today and we’ve got tomorrow,
And we can make the most of them while we can.

CHORUS
Life is what you make of it,
what you take from it,
what you do with it
You’re gonna find something great in it before you’re through with it, you know,
So don’t sit around just to wait for it,
think it’ll happen some how, no,
You’ve got the life,
go out and use it,
You’re the only one,
you’ve got to choose it,
You’ve got the right,
so don’t you refuse it now

You’ve got the chance that you’re gonna make it,
And it’s the only one so you’ve got to take it,
Life can be what you want to make it now.

You’ve got the life,
go on and live it,
give it everything you’ve got to give it,
Life can be the way you want to live it now

5) Iridescent Shadows

I remember warm Septembers,
creeping down an August highway,
And a worn-out, trusted buddy, someone called a car,
And I remember Queensland backroads shining in the sun,
Like the million stars,
shining in our eyes for the things we’d never done,
but meant to,
Bobby Jones and Billy Soames,
cousin Joe were there beside me,
Sharing good luck stories and the secrets of the sun,
Hanging on to nothing more than good times yet to come,
Till September days,
went their separate way,
and thought they came again,
They never seemed the same.

CHORUS
Looking back on the pages of our lives,
Wishing we could live them all again,
Have you ever noticed that the many things we never noticed,
Always seem much better when we’re looking back at them,
And I wonder, were those days as good as I remember,
Or am I looking through the rainbows in my mind again,
Do I see the coloured chapters of my life,
lying there,
Or just the iridescent shadows of some black and white affairs?

6) New York City

Big plane, bass man, you’re thinner in the face, man,
And Winter is almost on us,
Trash can, song man, letters from the tax man, Hoping to hear things from us,
And we got nothin’ We got nothin’,
We can try to persevere for another year,
but we’re never gonna make it here in New York City

Hey day, pay days, whiskey for the DJ’s,
Doesn’t leave much for dancing,
One hop, don’t stop, make it to the real top,
Might as well stop romancing, That we’re gonna go there,
We’re goin’ nowhere,
The rock and roll finds of North Caroline,
are never gonna make the big time in New York City.

Southbound Greyhound, headed for my home town,
Leavin’ round ten this evening,
Down in the old town, walking on my home ground, Is reason enough for leavin’
‘Cos we got nothin’
We got nothin’, The rock and roll finds of North Caroline,
are never gonna make the big time in New York City

7) Shaney Boy

Little boy, you seem to wake up earlier every morning,
Come running from your bed to meet the day,
With a pair of sleepy eyes that could have slept a little longer,
And a thousand, urgent things you have to say,

CHORUS
And the morning passes quickly in the Spring time,
And the Spring, time brings such fascinating games,
Puppy dogs and chocolate frogs and fishing lines,
And pretending that you didn’t hear your mummy call your name.

Shaney boy, your lunch is going cold here on the table,
You have to eat these things to make you grow,
And I know you’re only scared that you'll be missing out on something,
But even busy people have to eat, you know.

CHORUS 2
And the afternoon goes quickly when there’s good times,
And there’s good times in the garden every day,
Little friendly butterflies that flutter by,
And a little friend to help you chase those butterflies away.

Shaney boy those eyes of yours are looking kinda drowsy,
And I know you never want the day to end,
But just think, if you close your eyes and lie back on the pillow,
It won’t be long before the morning’s here again.

CHORUS 3
And the morning passes quickly in our life time,
And before you even notice, it’s gone,
So, little boy, I’m noticin’ the nice times, now,
‘Cos I know that little boys don’t stay little boys for long.

REPEAT FIRST VERSE.

8) Takin’ the Long Road Home

When I was a young boy,
had big intentions,
I thought I could be just about anything you’d care to mention,
I was a young boy,
hard on the heels of success,
I was a wide-eyed, unsatisfied young fool,
I have to confess,
But I guess I did all right for a while,

Burning the midnight oil,
thinking my life might spoil,
If I didn’t bring myself up to a steady boil,
I was a young boy, really on the road to somewhere,
But now I’m a man who doesn’t really give a damn if I never get there.

CHORUS
Takin’ the long road home,
I'm takin’ the long road home,
Takin’ the time to find a way around the life I’ve known,
Takin’ the wrong road home,
oh, that’s where I’m gonna be,
And I tell you pretty women,
I tell you good times,
From now on you’re gonna find you’ll see a whole lot more of me.

CHORUS
Takin’ the long road home,
takin’ the long road home,
Takin’ the time to find a way around the life I’ve known,
Takin’ the wrong road home,
oh, that’s where I’m gonna be,
And I tell you pretty women,
I tell you good times,
From now on you’re gonna find you’ll see a whole lot more of me.

9) Kedron Brook

In the last light of evening sun,
when summer grasses spoke of early dew,
I took an unfamiliar turning,
And so I wandered,
in the power of some strange subconscious yearning,
Down the turnings and the twistings of the road,
Till the sun was gone from the distant hill,
And Kedron Brook seemed strangely still.

FIRST REFRAIN
Visions of sunsets and soft summer skies,
Like cellophane papers that danced in my eyes,
Echoes of footsteps that wandered their way,
Through the last, lonely lights of the day,
Feelings of feelings that sent my head reeling,
just wondering how it could be,
That the feelings of something so strangely confusing,
were strangely familiar to me,
Like the feeling of something I seemed to recall,
but I couldn’t remember it all,
The feeling as though I had stepped through a door,
and I knew I had been there before.

SECOND REFRAIN
When the gentry were waltzing to the gentle maxinas,
And the hansom cabs swayed,
like young ballerinas,
And life was as sweet as an old concertina,
that rattled its way through a holiday,
When the night was the sight of the weary lamplighters and the crowded marquees,
Of the bare-fisted fighters, And the bustles and bows of the Saturday nighters,
were rustling their way through a Saturday,
When the world twirled around to an old-fashioned sound,
and the seasons were young in the ground.
Did I once stand there at Kedron Brook,
watching the sun going down?

10) There’s Nothing I Would Rather Do.

Life is like that,
it builds you up and then it lets you down,
And all the brand new hopes you found,
Are lying there, in pieces on the ground around you.

How we need someone,
to help us find those things so hard to find,
A friend who’ll follow close behind,
Through the unexpected turnings of our minds.

CHORUS
And I’d give you loving of a kind you’ve never known before,
I’d give you everything I have and still I'd want to give you more,
Get you back to being what you ought to be,
I’d be standing there when you needed me,

So let me help you,
let me take your whole life in my hands,
And give you all the best I can,
‘Cos I tell you, there is nothing I would rather do than love you.

11) Bonnie, Please Don’t Go.

She’s leavin’,
she’s leavin’,
She’s on the ship now and leavin’,
Standing by the gangway tossing streamers over her way,
I find it kinda hard believin’,
Deceivin’,
deceivin’,
My subtle game of deceivin’,
Standing here and waving, blowing kisses and behaving,
Like it doesn’t matter much to see her leavin’.

CHORUS
I don’t know what I don’t know who,
I don’t know where she’s going to,
I only know she’s going out of my life,
Across the sea of waving hands and Colonel Billie’s farewell band,
I watch the disappearing face of my wife,
And I’m doing all I can to hide the sad confusion of my mind,
And to brace myself with every trick I know,
But though my lips are beating time,
To the words of Auld Lang Syne,
My voice keeps on defying,
Crying Bonnie please don’t go.

That fool in me,
Persuading me,
To hide the broken pieces of my dignity,
When a simple reassuring word,
Just to reach out and comfort her,
Was all I had to say,
To keep her here with me.

CHORUS