Telegraph City, California

Telegraph Road

A long time ago come a man on a track
Walkin' thirty miles with a sack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
Made a home in the wilderness
Built a cabin and a winter store
He ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
The other travellers came walking down the track
They never went further, no, 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 load
And the dirty old track was the telegraph road
Yeah, and 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
And the telegraph road got so deep and so wide like a rolling river
My radio says, tonight it's gonna freeze
People drivin' home from the factories
Now here comes six lanes of traffic
Three lanes moving slow
Used to like to go to work but they shut it all down
I got a right to go to work, no work here to be found
Yeah and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed
We're gonna have to reap from the seed that's sowed
When all the birds up on the wires and up on the poles
They can always get outta this rain and this cold
Then you can hear them singin' out their telegraph code
All the way down the telegraph road
And I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights
Yeah, life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder, had your hand in my hair
Now you actin' little colder like you don't seem care
But just believe in me baby, and I'll get you away
I'm gonna get you out of this darkness and into the day
From all these rivers of headlights, from these river of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'Cause I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
And I don't wanna see it again
From all of these signs, just sayin', 'Sorry but we're closed'
[Incomprehensible]