Telegraph Road

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