With my imitation Gretsch guitar
Another hotel, it's time to check out soon
Like a gypsy I was born to roam
I took a trip down the Charing Cross Road
Pete played on the bass guitar
Different cars, different bars and hotels
Another day, another freeway to face
When it all gets too bad I think back
But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day
The bed and breakfasts and the greasy spoons
And still all the critics keep saying
Life is a road, it's a motorway
All those early gigs we ever played
Well, life is a road, it's a motorway
The loser bars and the noisy rooms
Everyday is when I can't get used to it
The motorways all over this land
All the families and homes that I've left behind
(The road)
I've left behind on the road
(The road)
Started playing blues in a coffee bar
Far away places like Wigan and Birmingham
That's the road
They took the road so it's alright by me
(On the road)
(The road)
Whenever it's time to get back out on the road
And my head full of songs and my eyes full of stars
(The road)
And there's gas in my tank
Flower power, heavy metal and acid rock
I'm leaving home, I'm out on the road"
I think of all the friends I've left behind
(The road)
(The road)
Lost a lot of good friends along the way
(On the road)
You take your road and I'll take mine
And the road gets rocky along the way
(The road)
Didn't have no money, so we slept in the van
I say, "You take your road and I'll take mine"
Like a wanderer with no fixed abode
But Mrs. Avory's child was all fingers and thumbs
All the well respected men who came dancing and are still on the road
And I've still got a way to go
(The road)
Jimi Hendrix, The Who, the Led Zeppelin and Free
I saw a band called the Rolling Stones
Yours truly strummed away with a slightly limp wrist
When we were all each other had
(The road)
Sometimes we were lucky if we even got paid
(The road)
You'd still be out on the road
Corporations, big business and egos
Liked to get around, mixing with all the stars
The road
On the road
Living in it, eating in it, sleeping in it
(You take your road and I'll take mine)
Everyday is when I can't get away
I think of all the friends I've left behind
I think about the friends
It's been a long, hard haul on the motorway
While Dave, the Rave hit the rock 'n' roll riffs
(On the road)
Didn't have no name, didn't have any fans
To the wives and the lovers and friends who had their time
(The road)
Well, the road's been rocky along the way
On the road
(You take your road and I'll take mine)
Now everyone is a rival
(The road)
I thought, "That's it, I'll get a band
It's just the dedicated followers of fashion who like putting down
"Are they still around? When they gonna stop?"
You wake up in the morning, what do you see?
(The road)
When we started out on the road
After all this time you never thought
(The road)
But solid as a rock, setting time on the drums
But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day
I'm wasted talent on women and wine
Observed all the various phases from
The casualties who did too many lines
Life is a road, it's a motorway
Some are survivors, some are debris
If you play in a band that's the road that you take
And the road gets rocky along the way
(The road)
Sometime I get suicidal
(The road)
But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day
As I look around the room
