F5 D5 A long time ago came a man on a track C5 Bb5 F5 walking thirty miles with a sack on his back Bb5 C5 F5 C5 and he put down his load where he thought it was the best Bb5 G5 Bb5 he made a home in the wilderness F5 D5 he built a cabin and a winter store C5 A5 Bb5 F5 and he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore Bb5 C5 F5 C5 and the other travellers came riding down the track Bb5 F5 G5 Bb5 and they never went further and they never went back F5 D5 then came the churches then came the schools C5 Bb5 F5 then came the lawyers then came the rules Bb5 C5 C5 F5 C5 then came the trains and the trucks with their loads Bb5 Bb5 D5 and the dirty old track was the telegraph road F5 D5 Then came the mines - then came the ore C5 Bb5 Bb5 F5 then there was the hard times then there was a war Bb5 C5 F5 C5 telegraph sang a song about the world outside Bb5 G5 telegraph road got so deep and so wide Bb5 F5 like a rolling river. . . D5 D5 G5 And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze D5 people driving home from the factories C5 there's six lanes of traffic A5 D5 three lanes moving slow. . . C5 F5 D5 I used to like to go to work but they shut it down C5 Bb5 I've got a right to go to work but there's no work here to be found F5 Bb5 C5 F5 C5 yes and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed Bb5 G5 we're gonna have to reap from seed that's been sowed Bb5 F5 D5 and the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles C5 Bb5 they can always fly away from this rain and this cold C5 F5 you can here them singing out their telegraph code C5 Bb5 D5 all the way down the telegraph road C5 F5 D5 You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights C5 Bb5 when life was just a bet on a race between the lights F5 Bb5 C5 F5 C5 you had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair Bb5 G5 now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care Bb5 F5 D5 but believe in me baby and I'll take you away C5 Bb5 from out of this darkness and into the day C5 F5 C5 from these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain F5 Bb5 C5 F5 C5 from the anger that lives on the streets with these names F5 Bb5 C5 F5 F5 'cos I've run every red light on memory lane Bb5 C5 F5 C5 F5 I've seen desperation explode into flames Bb5 C5 F5 C5 and I don't want to see it again. . . A5 D5 From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closed Bb5 all the way