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Release date:
24.09.82
Tracks:
1. Telegraph Road (14:15)
2. Private Investigations (6:45)
3. Industrial Disease (5:49)
4. Love Over Gold (6:16)
5. It Never Rains (7:54)
A long time ago came a
man on a track
Walking thirty miles
with a sack on his back
And he put down his load
where he thought it was the best
He made a home in the
wilderness
he built a cabin and
a winter store
And he ploughed up the
ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travellers
came riding down the track
And they never went further
and they never went back
Then came the churches
then came the schools
Then came the lawyers
and the came the rules
The came the trains and
the trucks with their loads
And the dirty old track
was the telegraph road
Then came the mines -
then came the ore
Then there was the hard
times then there was a war
Telegraph sang a song
about the world outside
Telegraph road got so
deep and so wide
Like a rolling river...
And my radio says tonight
it's gonna freeze
People driving home from
the factories
There's six lane of traffic
Three lanes moving slow...
I used to like to go to
work but they shut it down
I've got a right to go
to work but there's no work here to be found
Yes and they say we're
gonna have to pay what's owed
We're gonna have to reap
from some seed that's been sowed
And the birds up on the
wires and the telegraph poles
They can always fly away
from this rain and this cold
You can hear them singing
out their telegraph code
All the way down the
telegraph road
You know I'd sooner forget
but I remember those nights
When life was just a
bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on
my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little
colder like you don't seem to care...
But believe in me baby
and I'll take you away
From out of this darkness
and into the day
From these rivers of
headlights these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives
on the streets with these names
'cos I've run every red
light on memory lane
I've seen desperation
explode into flames
And I don't wanna see
it again...
From all of these signs
saying sorry but we're closed
All the way down the
telegraph road
It's a mystery to me -
the game commences
For the usual fee - plus
expenses
Confidential information
- it's in a diary
This is my investigation
- it's not a public inquiry
I go checking out the
reports - digging up the dirt
You get to meet all sorts
in this line of work
Treachery and treason
- there's always an excuse for it
And when I find the reason
I still can get used to it
And what have you got
at the end of the day?
What have you got to
take away?
A bottle of whisky and
a new set of lies
Blinds on the window
and a pain behind the eyes
Scarred for life - no
compensation
Private investigations
Warning lights are flashing
down the Quality Control
Somebody threw a spanner
and they threw him in the hole
There's rumours in the
loading bay and anger in the town
Somebody blew the whistle
and the walls came down
There's a meeting in
the boardroom they're trying to trace the smell
There's leaking in the
washroom there's a sneak in personnel
Somewhere in the corridors
someone was heard to sneeze
'goodness me could it
be Industrial Disease?'
The caretaker was crucified
for sleeping at his post
They're refusing to be
pacified it's him they blame the most
The watchdog's got rabies
the foreman's got the fleas
And everyone's concerned
about Industrial Disease
There's panic on the
switchboard tongues are ties in knots
Some come out in sympathy
some come out in spots
Some blame the management
som blame the employees
And everybody knows it's
the Industrial Disease
The work force is disgusted
dows tools and walks
Innocence is injured
experience just talks
Everyone seeks damages
and everyone agrees
that these are 'classic
symptoms of a monetary squeeze'
On ITV and BBC they talk
about the curse
Philosophy is useless
theology is worse
History boils over there's
an economics freeze
Sociologists invent words
that mean 'Industrial Disease'
Doctor Parkinson declared
'I'm not surprised to see you here
You've got smokers cough
from smoking Brewer's droop from drinking beer
I don't know how you
came to get the Bette Davis knees
But worst of all young
man you've got Industrial Disease'
He wrote me a prescription
he said 'you are depressed
But I'm glad you came
to see me to get this off your chest
Come back and see me
later - next patient please
Send in another victim
of Industrial Disease'
I go down to Speaker's
Corner I'm thunderstruck
They got free speech,
tourists, police and trucks
Two men say they're Jesus
one of them must be wrong
There's a protest singer
singing a protest song - he says
'they wanna have a war
so they can keep us on our knees
They wanna have a war
so they can keep their factories
They wanna have a war
to stop us buying Japanese
They wanna have a war
to stop Industrial Disease
They're pointing out
the enemy to keep you deaf and blind
They wanna sap you energy
incarcerate your mind
They give you Rule Britannia,
gassy beer, page three
Two weeks in Espana and
Sunday striptease
Meanwhile the first Jesus
says 'I'd cure it soon
Abolish Monday mornings
and Friday afternoons'
The other one's out on
hunger strike he's dying be degrees
How come Jesus gets Industrial
Disease
You walk out on the high
wire
You're a dancer on thin
ice
You pay no heed to the
danger
And less to advice
Your footsteps are forbidden
But with knowledge of
your sin
You throw your love to
all the strangers
And caution to the wind
And you go dancing through
doorways
Just to see what you
will find
Leaving nothing to interfere
With the crazy balance
of your mind
And when you finally
reappear
At the place where you
came in
You've thrown your love
to all the strangers
And caution to the wind
It takes lover over gold
And mind over matter
To do what you do that
you must
When the things that
you hold
Can fall and be shattered
Or run through your fingers
like dust
I hear the Seven Deadly
Sins
And the Terrible Twinds
come to call on you
The bigger they are babe
The harder they fall
on you
And you you're always
the same you persevere
On the same old pleasure
ground
Oh and it never rains
around here
It just comes pouring
down
You had no more volunteers
So you got profiteers
for to help you out
With friends like that
babe
Good friends you had
to do without
And now they've taken
the chains and the gears
From off your merry-go-round
Oh and it never rains
around here
It just pouring down
And your new Romeo
Was just a gigolo when
he let you down
See the faster they are
babe
h The faster they get
out of town
Leaving make up stains
and the tears
Of a clown
Yes and it never rains
around here
It just comes pouring
down
Oh you were just a roller
coaster memory
I don't know why I was
even passing through
I saw you making a date
with Destiny
When he came around here
asking after you
In the shadow of the
Wheel Of Fortune
You're busy trying to
clear your name
You say 'I may be guilty
yeah that may be true
But I'd be lying if I
said I was to blame
See we could have been
major contenders
We never got no money
no breaks'
You've got a list of
all the major offenders
You got a list of all
their major mistakes
And he's just standing
in the shadows
Yes and you smile that
come-on smile
Oh I can still hear you
say as clear as the day
'I'd like to make it
worth your while'
Ah but it's a sad reminder
When your organ grinder
has to come to you for rent
And all you've got to
give him
Is the use of your side-show
tent
Yes and that's all that
remains of the years
Spent doing the rounds
And it never rains around
here
Well it just comes pouring
down
Now you know what they
say about beggars
You can't complain about
the rules'
You know what they say
about beggars
You know who's the first
to blame his tools
You never gave a damn
about who you pick up
And leave laying bleeding
on the ground
You screw people over
on the way up
Because you thought that
you were never coming down
And he takes you out
in Vaudeville Valley
With his hand up smothering
your screams
And he screws you down
in Tin Pan Alley
In the city of a billion
dreams