another time.

Familiar shadows in my hotel room
are still here for the taking.
They seem to linger on as the street lights fade
and the empty dawn is breaking.

Private movie showing in my head...
which button do I press for re-run?
And how do I catch the waking edge?
The edge of a dream about someone.

Well, you know, I felt her in my dream last night...
now the sheets are cold beside me.

"Raising Steam"

Over high plains, through the snow...
roll those tracks out, don't you know
I'm raising steam.
Thin vein creeping; hot blood flow...
spill a little where the new towns grow.
I got my whole life hanging in a sack,
heading out into that wide world wide.
You got your locomotive sitting on your track
and I don't care which way I ride.
I may not be coming back.

Left a lady with a heart
all in pieces come apart
raising steam.
That engine up front must
have a heart big enough for the both of us.
Riding shotgun on the sunset, stare it in the eye,
rocking on my heels out to the west.
Funny how the whole world, historically,
feels the urge to chase the sun to rest.

We may not be coming back.

Let me be your engineer...
have you smiling ear to ear
raising steam.
And will you tell me how it feels
when you're up and rolling on your driving wheels?
I got my whole life hanging in a sack,
heading out into that wide world wide.
I'll be your locomotive blowing off its stack
and I don't care which way I ride.
I may not be coming back.
Raising steam.

"Part Of The Machine"

Everybody's jumping on the circus train.
Some jump high, some jump off again.
And the razzmatazz is rolling, women folk unveiled.
All truths to light, all crosses nailed.
Aiming high where the eagle circles,
where he keeps his tail feathers clean.
And wonders "Am I still a free bird?
Or just a part of the machine".

They hitch their covered wagons and they roll out west.
Politics in the pockets of their Sunday best.
Shaking hands, kissing babies, for all that they're worth.
they promise you gold, promise heaven on earth.
Still, that old bald eagle circles,
it's not the first time that he's seen
his reflection in the eyes of innocence.
He's become just another part of the machine,

part of the machine.

I wish I had an eagle like you
to look up to.
He could be my wings to fly in a big bird sky
up above the whole machine.
Part of the machine.
Part of the machine.

Smart guys aren't running they're home and dry.
Up in the mountains where the eagle flies.
They wouldn't take that job offered on a plate.
They got to fly with the eagle, and he won't wait.
Looking down on the smoke and the factories
till the truth creeps up unseen.
They see themselves in the faces of their children
and realize they too are part of the machine.

Part of the machine.

I wish I had an eagle like you
to wake up to.
He could be my wings to fly
in a big bird sky, hey
let's be part of the machine.
Part of the machine. Part of the machine.
Part of the machine. Part of the machine.
Part of your machine. Part of your machine.
Part of your machine. Part of your machine.

"The Rattlesnake Trail"

Got a hair shirt round my shoulder. Got a cold stew in my spoon.
And I'm falling on my head, lifting feet of lead ---
now it's got me baying at the moon.
Well, there's a race on for tomorrow. I'm stretching out
for what might have been.
Going to come out from the night, got my second sight ---
play rough --- you know what I mean.
I'm going for the kill. I'm going tooth and nail
up that dusty hill --- on the rattlesnake trail.

Got the law laid down to the left of me. Got the real world to the right.
Heading up through the middle with my cat and my fiddle ---
yeah, looking for a fight.
Going to ride hard in bandit country --- on the blind side of the bend.
Keep my nose to the wind while the rabbit's skinned ---
bed down at the journey's end. (Be a rattlesnake.)
I'm going for the kill. I'm going tooth and nail

up that dusty hill --- on the rattlesnake trail.

The rattlesnake trail.
I'm going on the rattlesnake trail.

Going to be with wolves in winter --- run in angry packs by day.
But when you give a dog a bone, he has to be alone ---
growl, keep the other dogs away.
See that thin moon on the mountain. See that cold star in the sky.
Going to bring them down --- shake them to the ground ---
put that apple in the pie. (Be a rattlesnake.)
I'm going for the kill. I'm going tooth and nail
up that dusty hill --- on the rattlesnake trail.

"Kissing Willie"

Breaking hearts in a market town. She eats filet of sole
and washes it down with sparkling wine.
Nice girl, but a bad girl's better. Qualifies in both ways
to my mind. But now she's kissing Willie.

She shows a leg --- shows it damn well. Knows how to drive a man
right back to being a child.
Well, she's a --- nice girl, but her bad girl's better. I can read
it in her cheating eyes and know that in a while --- Well,
she'll be kissing Willie. (My best friend, Willie.)

Willie stands and Willie falls. Willie bangs his head
behind grey factory walls.
She's a --- nice girl, but her bad girl's better. Me and Willie
just can't help come, when she calls.
Now she's kissing Willie. (My best friend, Willie.)

"Ears Of Tin"

In the late hours of a sunset rendezvous ---
chill breeze against tide, that carries me from you.
Got a job in a southern city --- got some lead-free in my tank.
Now I must whisper goodbye --- I'm bound for the mainland.

Island in the city, Cut by a cold sea.
People moving on an ocean. Groundswell of humanity.

Now the sum breaks through rain as I climb Glen Shiel
on the trail of those old cattlemen who drove their bargain south again.
And in the eyes of those five sisters of Kintail