Little steel packs of people whizzing up and down,

Nicely wrapped and loosely packed and going to fast to say hello

Little steel packs of people whizzing up and down,

Nicely wrapped, loosely packed, and going to fast to say hello.

Got to stay between the lines, got to make up for lost time.

Take a chance and pay the fine.

My boss is waiting on the other end of the lines of

Little steel packs of people whizzing up and down,

Nicely wrapped and loosely packed and going to fast to say hello.

Little steel packs of people whizzing up and down,

Nicely wrapped and loosely packed and going to fast to say hello.

Wagons grinding up the lanes, fifty engines for just one train.

Cabs with painted towns and names,

Bored truckers faces staring at the same grey highway full of

Little steel packs of people whizzing up and down

Nicely wrapped and loosely packed and going to fast to say hello

Little steel packs of  people whizzing up and down

Nicely wrapped and loosely packed and going to fast to say hello

I am a middle lane man, I spend my life driving where ever I can

Through an alien land where islands are ashtrays of rubber and sand,

And...

Little steel packs of people whizzing up and down,

Nicely wrapped and loosely packed and going to fast to say hello.

Little steel packs of people whizzing up and down,

Nicely wrapped and loosely packed and going to fast to say hello.

Johnny's leaving, he won't be back

Though he longs to stay.

The work is gone,

He has to take what comes along,

So he's moving on.

Moving on, everybody's moving on

Losing touch and it won't take much to move on.

By the station he thumbs a ride

From a washed out, worn out, thrown out travellers' van.

"The railway's closed.

Take me where the money goes,

I'm moving on".

Moving on, everybody's moving on

Losing touch and it won't take much to move on.

And it seems that nothing stays the same,

You won't get paid unless you have some change.

Moving on, everybody's moving on,

Losing touch. It won't take much to move on.

Johnny's leaving, he won't be back.

Plough Stars in my eyes, I'm going home, I'm going home.

Plough Stars in my eyes, I'm going home, I'm going home.

Evening sunlight warms these Cumbrian  hills,

Battered raw, bracken stained and sliced by rills,

Cut from the crust of this pie they've christened Planet Earth.

My road sweeps through them on a broad beaten path,

Climbs to dark clouds, nursing their wrath.

As daylight melts the rising winds blow tears down from the sky.

Plough Stars in my eyes, I'm going home, I'm going home.

Plough Stars in my eyes, I'm going home, I'm going home.

I studied hard and they said I'd go far.

I never knew they meant I'd have to buy a car.

I kept my head down, and while I counted the jobs all ran away.

So I drove my bank loan past the Solway Firth,

Where Skiddaw scowls over  trapped yellow surf,

To mills, wee gills, bitter swilling, talking cars and girls.

Plough Stars in my eyes, I'm going home, I'm going home.

Plough Stars in my eyes, I'm going home, I'm going home.

I caught a seagull in this morning's sky,

Crying for the surf, white foam in it's eye,

Looked for mountains on the skyline, saw red brick terraced hills.

They're telling lies here and laying off my friends.

I've paid my debts and I'm tying my loose ends.

All I have to guide me home is beekin' in the sky.

Plough Stars in my eyes, I'm going home, I'm going home

Plough Stars in my eyes, I'm going home, I'm going home

On the Blaeberry Mair, high above the town,

All summer long she was mine.

Her years could fly when we lay down

High above the Steeple's chimes.

Oh the sun  was warm, but Oh.... the summer's gone.

I picked fruit for my mother's jam

She ate the berries off the tree

The sun was low and the air was calm,

When we had picked all we could see.

Oh the sun was warm, but Oh.... the summer's gone.

Her lips were stained when they felt for mine.

All my world glowed in her een.

I held her close, drinking bitter wine

On a bank beneath a Rowan tree.

Oh the sun was warm, but Oh.... the summer's gone.

She said the drovers came this way

Down to the Tryst to sell and buy,

To tak a woman for a day,

To drink and lay and deal and lie.

Oh the sun was warm, but Oh.... the summer's gone.

On the Blaeberry Mair, along the old drovers lane,

She took my hand one evening.

She tossed her hair in the autumn rain,

And told me she was leaving.

Oh the sun was warm, but  Oh.... my summer's gone.

We've been chancers, we've been chanters,

We've been soldiers to the corners of the world.

We've built railways, we've built bridges,

We've made inroads to the houses on the hills.

We've told stories in the darkness,

Lit candles to the memories of our dead.

Stood and fought, knelt and cried,

Waved goodbye to our kinfolk on the tide.

Now we're comancheros, selling guns and whisky to the natives,

Sitting tall in the saddle, flashing gold teeth at the ladies.

Through the mountains, on the carse,

Beaten ragged, deaf and hoarse.

We've been traded, we've been bartered,

Robbed of everything that mattered.

Chased by governments and bankers,

Met by bigotry and rancour.

Led by lying cheating bosses,

Chased by frock-coated posses.

We are comancheros, selling guns and whisky to the natives,

Sitting tall in the saddle, flashing gold teeth at the ladies.

We are comancheros, selling guns and whisky to the natives,

Sitting tall in the saddle, flashing gold teeth at the ladies.

Through the deserts of the Empire,

Through the fences of those quiet reservations,

Stripped and left to feed the vultures,

Saving scraps of dead mans' culture,

Rising fast and riding early

With the wind that shakes the barley.

We are comancheros selling guns and whisky to the natives,

Sitting tall in the saddle, flashing gold teeth at the ladies.

When you wake up to what's going on.

When you can see what it is you've been trying to miss for so long.

When tou get back to where you belong.

Just take a look at yourself and then tell me how far have you come?

You have run so far I think you've lost your way.

"I will hold your hand" you said to me.

"I will be your man" you said to me.

"I'll do what I can to keep you from the pain."

When you wakeup with somebody else,

It's just because there's some law says that you cannot live with yourself.

And when you get back, back home.

It's dark and there's clothes on the chairs and the floor and the curtains are drawn.

It has been so long I thought you'd lost your way.

"I will hold your hand" you said to me.

"I will be your man" you said to me.

"I'll do what I can to keep you from the pain."

I must have slept a long long time

I dreamed you took my hand and said that you were mine.

I dreamed we were back, back home,

With all that you said that I trusted and all that I thought I had known.

When you wake up just take it slow,

Don't make a sound as you fumble around till your ready to go.

I will not move, I won't make a sound.

When you open the door and I hear you go, then I'll come down.

As I change the locks I'll curse you on your way.

"I will hold your hand" you said to me.

"I will be your man" you said to me.

"I'll do what I can to keep you from the pain."