Poetry in Lyrics

The Ballad of the Boy in Red Shoes (John/Taupin)

I'm stoned in the twilight
Screaming on the inside
Give me your water, help me survive
Gonna miss the sunlight
When I lose my eyesight

Give me my red shoes, I want to dance
They search for an answer
But that old man wouldn't listen
Back then I was handsome
Back then he was ignorant

And shave off the years now, it's all inside my head
The boy in the red shoes is dancing by my bed
Put them in a box somehere, put them in a drawer
Take my red shoes, I can't wear them anymore

Had garlands in the wings back then
All the pretty little things back then
Calling out my name, oh what fame brings
After curtain calls and bows
I can't see the front row now
Hand me my red shoes just one more time

They pushed aside our presence
They refused to go the distance
Back then I was Sigmund
Back then he wouldn't listen



Ticking (John/Taupin)

"An extremely quiet child" they called you in your school report
"He's always taken interest in the subjects that he's taught"
So what was it that brought the squad car screaming up your drive
To notify your parents of the manner in which you died

At St. Patricks every Sunday, Father Fletcher heard your sins
"Oh, he's unconcerned with competition he never cares to win"
But blood stained a young hand that never held a gun
And his parents never thought of him as their troubled son

"Now you'll never get to Heaven" Mama said
Remember Mama said
Ticking, ticking
"Grow up straight and true blue
Run along to bed"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking

They had you holed up in a downtown bar screaming for a priest
Some gook said "His brain's just snapped" then someone called the police
You'd knifed a Negro waiter who had tried to calm you down
Oh you'd pulled a gun and told them all to lay still on the ground

Promising to hurt no one, providing they were still
A young man tried to make a break, with tear-filled eyes you killed
That gun butt felt so smooth and warm cradled in your palm
Oh your childhood cried out in your head "they mean to do you harm"

"Don't ever ride on the devil's knee" Mama said
Remember mama said
Ticking, ticking
"Pay your penance well, my child
Fear where angels tread"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking

Within an hour the news had reached the media machine
A male caucasian with a gun had gone berserk in Queens
The area had been sealed off, the kids sent home from school
Fourteen people lying dead in a bar they called the Kicking Mule

Oh they pleaded to your sanity for the sake of those inside
"Throw out your gun, walk out slow just keep your hands held high"
But they pumped you full of rifle shells as you stepped out the door
Oh you danced in death like a marionette on the vengeance of the law

"You've slept too long in silence" Mama said
Remember Mama said
Ticking, ticking
"Crazy boy, you'll only wind up with strange notions in your head"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking