(NOTE: album's printed lyrics a quite different from what is actually sung; I've put extra verses at the end of each song.)
"Good News - Bad News" - "Willow Tree" - "Holding the Compass" - "Strange Band" - "Part of the Load" - "Anyway" - "Lives and Ladies"
Closing your ears to other men's views
Change for the good, would not bring bad news
Turning your heads away from the crowd
Turning much further than we can allow
(REPEAT CHORUS)
Why change the rules, say those at the top
To those at the bottom, caught looking up
(REPEAT CHORUS)
Too many bodies, doubting your worth
Shout to the people, salt of the earth
(REPEAT CHORUS)
Is all that you need just someone to believe
Stand under your boughs and reach out a hand
The truth of the hand that touches your leaves
**all that you are
Willow tree wooden, I've watched and waited
I've been lit both by moonbeam and sun of the day
For some tragic loss of a friend or lover
Hoping that time will intervene
(ALTERNATE 1st VERSE)
Willow tree wooden, were you once a woman
Crying forlorn on the bank of a stream
For some tragic loss of a friend or lover
Hoping that time will somehow intervene
(ALTERNATE 2nd VERSE)
Is all that you need just someone to believe
Stand under your boughs and reach out a hand
The truth of the hand that touches your leaves
Release you and end your perpetual stand
(ALTERNATE 3rd VERSE)
Willow tree wooden, I've watched and waited
I've been lit both by moonbeam and sun of the day
Biding my time here, just sitting and thinking
How many years before you fade away?
(REPEAT)
Holding the compass ain't the way I've got to roam You know it takes me Straight home
Computer brain could guide a train Along it's path without help from a guy Who's prejudiced eye would see the track, see the track go back
(REPEAT CHORUS)
(ALTERNATE VERSION)
Many a time I'll point to a sign
Which way to go, maybe I'll know
If the wind doesn't blow the words around, to different ground
Whoever you are, just pick out a star
To shine your light, the thing is at night
That the clouds get tight, and fold upon, and then where's it gone?
Holding the compass ain't the way I've got to roam
You know it takes me
Straight home
Computer brain could guide a train
Along it's path without help from a guy
Who's prejudiced eye would see the track, see the track go back
(REPEAT CHORUS)
Dog and his master, took out together
Heading due west, away from the east
Walking the road, leading a blind man
Staff in his hand, and a dog that could see
Strange looking band were we
Man and his hubcaps, flashing the highway
Shielding his eyes, from the heat of the sun
A wife, name of Maisy, who's driving him crazy
Convertable mind closed permanently
Strange looking band were we
(REPEAT)
Rolling the highways
Living the way we do
Not truck driving men
But only half of the gigs, the show
Makes London to Glasgow, seem like down the road you know
But we're out on the road
That's part of the load
The load
Down the road... (repeat)
Pull in for dinner
Home's four thousand miles away
Write to your lady
Not knowing quite just what to say
You only know, you never ask her to wait
Houston in Texas
Two hundred miles or so
Last stop for supper
With just one tuna fish to go
No time to smile, no time to say, one small hello
We're out on the road
Part of the load
The load
A white to hurt the eyes stretches the fields afar
The brightness of the full moon, footprints show where you are
The snow becomes a mirror for the northern star
** there you are
Oh mountains far, your bigness makes me near to you
And flowers small your gentleness is how you grew
But those teardrops on your petals, are they only dew?
** wish I knew
A man holds tight his lady in the evening glade
His coat around her shoulders keeps the chill away
A willow spreads its limbs to make a lovers shade
** anyway...
Mothers and fathers that wait
For news of their innocents' fate
Raising a son for some years
Only to end it in tears
Oh, only to end it in tears
You being masters of war
You never knew your fathers, that's for sure
Just counting the numbers that died
I hope that you're satisfied
I hope that you're satisfied
My friend he's a salesman up in Leicestershire
His wife and baby love him, to him they're all so dear
We got talking together about some rights and wrongs
And just before I left there, I heard him sing this song:
I love my lady and baby
And I'm sure that you love yours
We want to care for each other
That's what we're here for
Yes, I love my lady and baby
And I'm sure that you love yours
So don't go pulling your switches
We don't need your wars
My friend he's a tailor up in Leicester town
He works his own shop there, and I know he's alright now
He's got his way of thinking, and know's that I've got mine
There's mostly only one thing we agree on all the time
We love our lives and our ladies
And we're sure that you love yours
We want to care for each other
That's what we're here for
We love our lives and our ladies
And we're sure that you love yours
So don't go pulling your switches
We don't need your wars
He loves his lady and baby
And he's sure that you love yours
They want to care for each other
That's what they're here for
He loves his lady and baby
And he's sure that you love yours
So don't go pulling your switches
They don't need your wars