Chris Rea - The Best Of

Well I'm standing by the river
But the water doesn't flow
It boils with every poison you can think of
And I'm underneath the streetlight
But the light of joy I know
Scared beyond belief way down in the shadows
And the perverted fear of violence
Chokes the smile on every face
And common sense is ringing out the bell
This ain't no technological breakdown
Oh no, this is the road to hell

And all the roads jam up with credit
And there's nothing you can do
It's all just pieces of paper flying away from you
Oh look out world, take a good look
What comes down here
You must learn this lesson fast and learn it well
This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway
Oh no, this is the road
Said this is the road
This is the road to hell

Josephine

There's rain on my window
But I'm thinking of you
Tears on my pillow
But I will come through
Josephine, I'll send you all my love
And every single step I take
I take for you
Josephine

There's a storm on my radar
But I can still fly
And you are the reason
The blue in my sky
Josephine

A life without meaning
I was walking away
In the coldest of winters
Night becomes day
Josephine, I'll send you all my love
And every single step I take
I take for you
Josephine

Let's dance

When you sing of the joy only love can bring
Heaven knows it's in my heart and my soul
Caught in a world full of tears
So many bad times and fears
So while there's a chance and you're near

Let's dance
Let's dance

There's a world far away from the one we see
There's a dream I will never let go
One thing is certainly true
This moment's for me and for you
So while there's not a thing that we can do

Let's dance
Let's dance

Fool (if you think it's over)

A dying flame, you're free again
Who could love and do that to you
All dressed in black, he won't be coming back
Save your tears, you've got years and years
The pains of seventeen's
Unreal they're only dreams
Save your crying for the day

Fool if you think it's over
'Cos you said goodbye
Fool if you think it's over
I'll tell you why
New born eyes always cry with pain
At the first look at the morning sun
You're a fool if you think it's over
It's just begun

Miss teenage dream, such a tragic scene
he knocked your crown and ran away
First wound of pride and how you cried and cried
But save your tears you've got years and years

Fool if you think it's over
'Cos you said goodbye
Fool if you think it's over
I'll tell you why
New born eyes always cry with pain
At the first look at the morning sun
You're a fool if you think it's over
It's just begun

I'll buy your first good wine
We'll have a real good time
Save your crying for the day
That may not come but anyone
Who had to pay would laugh at you and say

Fool if you think it's over
'Cos you said goodbye
Fool if you think it's over
I'll tell you why

Auberge

On the hard fast train
On the road to gain
Something gets right through to your telling bone
There's a sudden itch
An electric twitch
Sometimes I swear this body's got a mind of it's own

This is the naked truth
This is the light
There's only one place left to go
Auberge

You meet the silent type
On a windy trail
With a shiny cloak and an unseen silver dagger
You can talk till you ache
Give yourself one more break
You can tell by the look on his face that it just doesn't matter

This is the naked truth
This is the light
There's only one place left to go
Auberge

Give me a weekend
Give me a day
Don't like what I'm seeing though I hear what you say
Think with a dagger
And you'll die on your knees
Begging for mercy
Singing please mister please

This is the naked truth
This is the light
There's only one place left to go
Auberge

Julia

Eyes so bright, so big and wide
Make you feel so strange
Somewhere deep inside
It's the face of an angel
Soul of the devil may care

How I'd love to know
What goes on in there

She needs your love
She needs it every day
But speak of love
See her laugh and run away

Julia, which way will you go
Julia, I wanna know
Julia, only the moon and stars
Julia, know just where you are
Julia

See the dance that needs no alibi
Oh you don't need to dream
When you know you can fly

She needs your love
She needs it every day
But speak of love
See her laugh and run away

Julia, which way will you go
Julia, I wanna know
Julia, only the moon and stars
Julia, know just where you are
Julia

Stainsby girls

Some girls used to kiss and run
Never knew what they had done
Some girls always wasted time
Keep you hanging on the line
Some loved horses and always stayed at home
But the Stainsby girls loved the Rolling Stones

Now some had games that you had to play
Making rules along the way
Strange attractions newly found
Pride and passion kicked around
Some girls stole your heart
Like most girls do
But a Stainsby girls could break it in two

And I fell in love, I fell in love
I fell in love with a Stainsby girl

Deepest water Stainsby blue
Names and faces fade away
Memories here to stay

And I fell in love, I fell in love
I fell in love with a Stainsby girl

If you were me (duet with Elton John)

If you were me
And I was you
If you had to play my part out
What would you do
Two crazy stories,
Two different views
If you were me
And I was you
If you were me
And I was you
What kind of crazy things
Would I have to do
Who likes to party
Who stays at home
If you were me
And I was you

Never like strangers
Though never the same
Two circus side-shows
And laughter in the rain
You stay with the full moon
You search for the stars
Thank God it's heaven
Here we both are

If you were me
And I was you
If you had to play my part out
What would you do
Two crazy stories,
Two different views
If you were me, if you were me
If you were me and I was you

On the beach

Between the eyes of love I call your name
Behind the guarded walls I used to go
Upon a summer wind there's a certain melody
Takes me back to the place that I know
Down on the beach

The secrets of the summer I will keep
The sands of time will blow a mystery
No-one but you and I
Underneath that moonlit sky
Take me back to the place that I know
On the beach

Forever in my dreams my heart will be
Hanging on to this sweet memory
A day of strange desire
And a night that burned like fire
Take me back to the place that I know
On the beach

Looking for the summer

Look deep inside the April face
A change is clearly taking place
Looking for the summer

The eyes take on a certain gaze
And leave behind the springtime days
Go looking for the summer

This ain't no game of kiss and tell
The implications how you know so well
Go looking for the summer

The time has come and they must go
To play the passion out that haunts you so
Looking for the summer

Remember love how it was the same
We scratched and hurt each others growing pains
We were looking for the summer

And still I stand this very day
With a burning wish to fly away
I'm still looking, looking for the summer

I can hear your heartbeat

In the silence of the side street
In the whisper of the night
From the darkness of the empty hours
To the early morning light
From the hustle down on main street
With all it's lights so bright
To the trucker on the highway
Pressing through the night

I can hear you heartbeat
I can hear you heartbeat
Girl, the sound of you is so sweet
To me

And I'm sailing on your wind song
Oh, I can feel the summer breeze
You've got me walking on my tiptoes
You've got me standing on my knees
From the mills way down in Pittsburgh
To the clubs of gay Paris
Ah, no matter where I roam, girl,
You can always get to me

I can hear you heartbeat
I can hear you heartbeat
Girl, the sound of you is so sweet
To me

We got freezing Coca-Cola
We got anything you want
I moving on that back beat
Girl, but it's you that sings the song

'Cos I can hear you heartbeat
I can hear you heartbeat
The sound of you is so sweet
To me

Oh I still hear your heartbeat
Yea I still hear your heartbeat
Girl, the sound of you is so sweet,
to me

You can go your own way

You can go your own way
You can go your own way
It doesn't matter what the others say
'Cos you can go your own way
You can go your own way

You've got a ring on your finger
A chain around your heart and your soul
Searching for an answer
Looking for your own control

Walk away from the leader
Walk away form the books
Walk away from the TV
Take a long hard look
And you can go your own way

God's great banana skin

Go down my road running just as fast as I can
Nobody knows which is the better way
But when that man in the sky points his finger at you
Don't you ever think no-one's better than you

God's great banana skin
Don't you laugh at nobody
You'll let the bad luck in
God's great banana skin
It's the way that it gets you
With every day good luck comes in the strangest of ways
Just keep your head down don't listen what your ego will say
'Cos when that man in the sky points his finger at you
Don't you ever think no-one's better than you

God's great banana skin
Don't you laugh at nobody
You'll let the bad luck in
God's great banana skin
It's the way that it gets you

God's great banana skin
God's great banana skin

When that man in the sky points his finger at you
Don't you ever think no-one's better than you
Don't you ever think no-one's better than you

God's great banana skin
Gonna get you
God's great banana skin

Winter song

It's a cold, cold feeling
On a real lazy wind
That blows all the way trough you
And the autumn begins

How it cuts like a sabre
How it chills to the bone
You've got cold feet and fingers
And you're thinking of home

If I put my arms around you
Take you in from the storm
From your autumn through winter
Darling I'll keep you warm

My overcoat's empty
Deep, wide and long
I got room for you darling
till your winter, till your winter has gone

Gone fishing

I'm gone fishing
I got me a line
Nothing I do is gonna make the difference
So I'm taking the time

And you ain't never gonna be happy
Anyhow, anyway
So I'm gone fishing
And I'm going today

I'm gone fishing
Sounds crazy I know
I know nothing about fishing
But just watch me go

And when the time has come
I will look back and see
Peace on the shoreline
That could have been me

You can waste a whole lifetime
Trying to be
What you think is expected of you
But you'll never be free

May as well go fishing

Tell me there's a heaven

The little girl she said to me
What are these things that I can see
Each night when I come home from school
And mama calls me in for tea
Oh every night a baby dies
And every night a mama cries
What makes those men do what they do
To make that person black and blue
Grandpa says their happy now
They sit with God in paradise
With angels' wings and still somehow
It makes me feel like ice

Tell me there's a heaven
Tell me that it's true
Tell me there's a reason
Why I'm seeing what I do
Tell me there's a heaven
Where all those people go
Tell me they're all happy now
Papa tell me that it's so

So do I tell her that it's true
That there's a place for me and you
Where hungry children smile and say
We wouldn't have no other way
That every painful crack of bones
Is a step along the way
Every wrong done is a game plan
To that great and joyful day

And I'm looking at the father and the son
And I'm looking at the mother and the daughter
And I'm watching them in tears of pain
And I'm watching them suffer
Don't tell that little girl
Tell me
Tell me there's a heaven
Tell me that it's true
Tell me there's a reason
Why I'm seeing what I do

Tell me there's a heaven
Where all those people go
Tell me they're all happy now
Papa tell me that it's so

Three little green candles

Instrumental