1) Man of the 20th Century

Riding along in a seven forty seven,
thinking the heavens are looking just fine,
Whiskey and Coke and I’m lighting a smoke,
and I’m hoping the captain is making good time,
Breakfast in Rome,
dinner in London, watching a movie and thund’ring along,
Paris of Hong Kong,
it doesn’t take long,
This way or that way, it's all much the same,
When you’re living at this pace,
the world is a small place,
Getting around is just the name of the game.

CHORUS
So man in the moon I think it’s time to assume that your heavenly reign is over,
Bird on the wing it’s no longer a thing to fly in the sky like you do.
Fish in the sea you’ve got nothing on me,
I can go anywhere I want to,
I’m not the kind to stand in a line and just be the way I was meant to be,
No please understand I gotta be what I can,
I’m a man of the twentieth Century.

Riding along on a wave of invention,
greater intention and doing just fine,
Thumbing my nose at the forces of nature,
courses that take you to turbulent times,
Fighting the traffic,
radio blaring,
stopping and swearing and passing the blame,
Ah right way or wrong way I’ve come a long way,
this day to that day,
it’s never the same,
When you’re living at this pace,
the world is a small place,
Going ahead is just the name of the game.

CHORUS
So man in the moon I think it’s time to assume that your heavenly reign is over,
Bird on the wing it’s no longer a thing to fly in the sky like you do.
Fish in the sea you’ve got nothing on me,
I can go anywhere I want to,
I get no time to stand in a line and just be the way I was meant to be,
No please understand I gotta go where I can,
I’m a man of the twentieth Century.

Man on the moon I think it’s time to assume it’s no longer the way it was meant to be,
Your heavenly reign doesn't mean the same to a man of the twentieth century.

Man on the moon I think it’s time to assume it’s no longer the way it used to be,
Bird on thw wing you know you don't mean a thing, to a man of the twentieth century,

Man on the moon I think it’s time to assume it’s no longer the way it was meant to be,
Fish in the sea, you’ve got nothing on me, I’m a man of the 20th Century.

2) 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.

3) Someday Sam

Someday Sam,
people call me and I guess I am,
Nothing going but the things that could be,
if only they would be,
And there should be a rainbow tomorrow.

One day man,
things are rosy in my someday plans,
Always cosy there beyond the sunrise in the days to come by,
But some guys just don’t understand.

Well in the mirror when you see yourself,
Do you ever wish you were looking at someone else?
Do you see a lot of things in that life of yours,
That you know you’re gonna go on being sorry for.
Well in the mirror when I find myself,
I feel mighty grateful it’s me,
‘Cos I’ve always known exactly how I’d like to be,
And Someday Sam is gonna be that man.

CHORUS
Someday Sam,
going somewhere from the man I am,
Though the road may have its ups and down days its turning around ways,
Someday you’ll all understand.

Well in the mirror when you see yourself,
Do you ever wish you were looking at someone else? Do
you see a lot of things in that life of yours,
That you know you’re gonna go on being sorry for.
Well in the mirror when I find myself,
I feel mighty grateful that it’s me,
‘Cos I’ve always known exactly how I’d like to be,
And Someday Sam is gonna be that man.

CHORUS
Someday Sam,
going somewhere from the man I am,
Though the road may have its ups and down days its turning around ways,
Someday you’ll all understand.

4) I Came to Somerset

Summer headed south in ’64,
and found me there in my beat up car,
My sole possessions came to nothing more,
Than my travelling bags,
and an old guitar,
Wine and pretty women were the life of me,
And the devil rode along for my company,
Singing and picking I did the rounds,
Of a score of southern country towns.

I came to Somerset when summer’s leaves were turning yellow,
And summer’s songs had all been sung,
by fellows such as I,
I came to Somerset to sow the seeds of wild abandon,
And people there came out to stand and watch me passing by.

Was in the chill of that early autumn,
in the breathless still of an afternoon,
When I felt a sudden strange contentment,
Lying there in Matilda’s room,
Matilda’s arms were warm and willing,
Matilda’s arms were mind to share,
And it seems they found a need within me,
I never ever knew was there.

I came to Somerset,
when summer’s leaves were turning yellow,
And summer’s songs were reckless songs,
For fellows such as I,
I came to Somerset to sow the seeds of wild abandon,
People there seemed to understand,
And watched me passing by.

Some people say they’re like their mother,
Other people say they’ve got my ways,
And it seems kinda quiet around there,
Since they started school,
The other day.

I came to Somerset when summer’s leaves were turning yellow,
And summer’s songs had all been sung,
By fellows such as I,
I came to Somerset to sow the seeds of wild abandon People there come out to stand,
And they watch us passing by.

5) Kedron Brook

In the last light of evening sun,
when the 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?

6) 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 days,
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,
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

7) 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

8) Over the Hills and Far Away.

Throwing stones at the embassy,
policeman come and arrested me,
Paper at the university,
said I was a hero,
And the wise old judge that I went before,
wouldn’t believe what I did it for,
Said this is no way to stop the war,
But, how the hell would he know?

Singing songs of dissolution,
ban the bomb and beat pollution,
Writing on walls about a revolution,
that’s guaranteed to grow,
And I see on the news some identity,
with an old man’s views on society,
Said there’s no room for guys like me,
But, how the hell would he know?

CHORUS
Over the hills and far away,
I’m gonna understand one day,
What the other half believe in,
if it's real or just deceiving,
So until I find that day,
I’ll go along my way,
And I’ll look back on my life and I’ll know I lived it right.

Lying down across the roadway,
almost lasted out the whole day,
Drivers trying but there was no way,
left for them to go,
And the wise old judge that we went before,
wouldn’t believe what we did it for,
Said this is no way to help the poor,
But, how the hell would he know?

CHORUS
Over the hills and far away,
I’m gonna understand one day,
What the other half believe in,
if they’re real or just deceiving,
So until I find that day,
I’ll go along my way,
And I’ll look back on my life and I’ll know I lived it right.

1995 came quickly,
crept right up and now it’s hit me,
Seems the mayor of a busy city,
don’t know where the days go,
Build a bridge and move the highway,
spend the rest and mend the byways,
Someone wrote things across my driveway,
and someone broke my window,
And I see on the news some identity,
with a young man’s views on society,
Said there’s no room for guys like me,
But, how the hell would he know.

REPEAT CHORUS
The Fade Over the hills and far away,
merrily on my way.

9) Scotty

With wide eyes you wonder why you understand some,
And you don’t understand all the rest,
Well, little boy,
your daddy’s been living a while,
And I really don’t know much myself,
I’ll teach you the whys and the wherefores,
and the ways of this world I have known,
But life is a journey of different directions,
And sometimes we travel alone.

CHORUS
And Scotty,
life can be rough,
life can be tough,
life can go wrong,
Scotty, life can be fun,
life can just come rolling along,
So live with the good times,
and learn from the bad,
And laugh at the fun times you’ve had,
Look for the reasons to carry you through,
And Scotty,
that’s all you can do.

And you wonder why some days are fun days and Sundays,
And some days may not be the same,
Well blue skies are many and grey skies are few,
So we do what we can in the rain,
The whys and the wherefores are there for a reason,
and sometimes we don’t understand,
But life is a journey that’s leading us somewhere,
And we get there the best way we can.

CHORUS
2 And Scotty life can be rough,
life can be tough,
life can be kind,
Scotty, life can be fun,
life can be one wonderful time,
So live with the good times,
and learn from the bad,
And laugh at the fun times you’ve had,
Look for the reasons to carry you through,
And Scotty,
that’s all you can do.

10) 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

11) 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?

12) Grab the Money and Run.

We all worked on the highway,
I was a leading hand,
She was a clerk on the payroll and he was a security man,
We were all tired of the highways,
heading down a one-way track,
We headed out with the payroll,
and we never headed back.

CHORUS
Grab the money and run,
that’s all you can do,
When there’s a world out there and it’s waiting for you,
On our way,
at the most we had a half a day,
Then every cop in the land,
every government man,
Every two-bit crook with a gun in his hand,
Would be out and about,
And just looking for us.

Things went well on the backroads,
hardly saw a soul all day,
And by the time they had discovered us missing,
We were four hundred miles away,
Climbing on board the "Argentine Queen",
Bobby, Jenny and me,
Two hundred grand in the captain in hand,
And heading out to sea.

CHORUS
Grab the money and run,
that’s all you can do,
When there’s a world out there and it’s waiting for you,
Goodbye old friends,
I guess we’ll never see them again,
But every cop in the land,
Every government man,
Every two-bit crook with a gun in his hand,
Would hardly expect us to go and catch a boat to Mexico.

Lying low in Mexico,
had seemed like a real good plan,
When she was a clerk on the payroll and he was a security man,
But sometimes some people are not what they seem to be,
Now every cop in the land,
every government man,
Bobby and Jenny with a gun in their hands,
Are out and about and just looking for me.

CHORUS (fade)

13) 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.

14) 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.