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