Deacon Blue - The Great Western Road (2025)

01 The Great Western Road
02 Late '88
03 People Come First
04 Wait On Me
05 Ashore
06 Underneath The Stars
07 Up Hope
08 Turn Up Your Radio!
09 How We Remember It
10 Mid Century Modern
11 Curve Of The Line
12 If I Lived On My Own

The Great Western Road

Bus driver won't you take me
To the furthest place from here
To somewhere l've not been before
But maybe you have seen

Over the hill
Travelling until
Only the stars
Lighten the dark

I'm waiting and watching
Cause something is coming
They say it's arriving
No later than morning

All those lost days and wasted journeys
Undiscovered twists and turnings
Where are we now?
What's the way out?

And the way is what we know
Though it's late we will go
Cause it's deep and wide and long and slow
It's the great western road

The drivers, the travellers
The runners, the rulers
The prisoners, the jailers
The lovers, the losers

All those lost days and wasted journeys
Undiscovered twists and turnings
Where are we now?
What's the way out?

And the way is what we know
Though it's late we will go
Cause it's deep and wide and long and slow
It's the great western road


Late '88

I can't recall
I can't recall why, but we seemed to do it all
And it all seemed so easy
But that was long ago
When we didn't even care
About what we didn't know
Never thought about tomorrow
And
We were running
Never stopping
Oh

Didn't we do it all, didn't we make it so
Everyone would know
We told the whole world where to go
Out of all control
Where we've never been before
So everyone would know
We did it all

All the love
All the love we'd ever want
Was waiting there
Lurking in the shadows
In late eighty eight
Holding on to nothing more than hope
Never thought about tomorrow
And
We were running
Never stopping
Oh

Didn't we do it all, didn't we make it so
Everyone would know
We told the whole world where to go
Out of all control
Where we've never been before
So everyone would know
We did it all
We did it all
We did it all
I can't recall

I can't recall why, but we seemed to do it all
And it all seemed so easy
But that was long ago
When we didn't even care
About what we didn't know
Never thought about tomorrow
But I do recall
Do recall now that we were on a roll
Holding back the sorrow

Didn't we do it all, didn't we make it so
Everyone would know
We told the whole world where to go
Out of all control
Where we've never been before
So everyone would know
We did it all
We did it all
We did it all
Late '88


People Come First

I met a friend at the underground
He was waiting for a train
that never came round
There's one to take you out
and one to bring you home
I've been waiting so long
don't know which one I'm on

Give me your tired folk
yearning to breathe
Your huddled masses longing for freedom

People, people come first
People, people come first
People, people come first
People, people come first

My friend walked out and never came back
He said there's too much going on
I just don't understand
I can do what i need or l can do what like
But I'm tired of every turn
and twist of this life

Give me your tired folk
yearning to breathe
Your huddled masses longing for freedom

People, people come first
People, people come first
People, people come first
People, people come first

He's trying to run, when he can't walk
He's trying to sing, when he can't talk
He's trying to write, when he can't see
Cause he's so scared of what this world might be

People
People
People
People

People, people come first
People, people come first
People, people come first
People, people come first


Wait On Me

In the dark of the night and it's cold
Cold outside
When there's nothing ahead, and you can't
Can't go on

Dead ahead and don't look back
Keep your eyes upon the road
Don't get troubled by what you can't see
If you can, keep your eyes fixed on the light
If you can't
Wait on me

When the road up ahead seems to stop
And there's nowhere to go
Wait on me, wait on me
When the things that once made you smile
Make you cry
Wait on me

I can't tell how to think
What to do where to go
Even if I wanted to
So if you can, try to follow your heart
If you can't
Wait on me
Wait on me

If you're waking up all night
Waiting for the morning
Dying for the dawn
To light up all the wrong things
Just know this night is done
If you can hold on I'll be right along

Wait on me
Wait on me


Ashore

Every time
He disappears
Beneath the waves
Her heart behaves
Like a wild horse
In the breakers
Running from ocean to shore

She watched him swim
Against the tide
Remembering the sea
Was as deep as it's wide
Like a shipwreck
On the far rocks
Breaking up and onto the shore

I will not hurt you
Nor desert you
I will not let you go
One day you'll return
And walk up that shore
Everyone needs to come home

His hands were scarred
With clay and clod
And his mouth spat out
What the waters brought
The sun reached down
And warmed their hearts
As she welcomed him back to the world

I will not hurt you
Nor desert you
I will not let you go
One day you'll return
And walk up that shore
Everyone needs to come home


Underneath The Stars

Let's pretend this night is ours
Like we ever really owned it?
And that cold wind's not
circling round the house
And the cracks and tears aren't showing

If traffic noise was breaking waves
I could take you for a swim
And we'd dry off under the street lights
And know we'd almost had a win

So kid-on that neon sign's the moon
And barking street dogs
are singing us a tune
Even though the rain is falling,
we'll still pretend that we're together here
Underneath the stars, underneath the stars

I never meant to make you tired
Or take so much away
I was too busy moving on
When all I had to do was stay

No stars above to guide us
No way to see where the light was
You were standing in the shadows
That seemed so far away

Kid-on that neon sign's the moon
And barking street dogs
are singing us a tune
Even though the rain is falling,
we'll still pretend that we're together here
Underneath the stars, underneath the stars

If I pull this sheet right over our heads
Make this place a palace. Nothing less
Than a court for kings and countesses
But that's just not the way it is, I guess

Let's kid-on that neon sign's the moon
And barking street dogs are
singing us a tune
So for one last night... let's pretend we're still together here
Underneath the stars, underneath the stars
Underneath the stars, underneath the stars


Up Hope

One day, I said
I'll come right back here
Till then, I know
I'll think of us dear
That place, that time
There's nothing we feared
Okay, I know, I left in the dark
Hold on, some more, I'm gonna come back

I'll show you all around this town
Through streets I've told you all about
We'll go from north to south
We'll take Jamaica
And up Hope

This time, in this town
We'll do what we once did
Just me, then you
Painting the town red
Okay, I know, what this life might have been
You knew, like I do,
you need dreams to believe in

I'll show you all around this town
Through streets I've told you all about
We'll go from north to south
We'll take Jamaica
And up Hope

I'll show you all around this town
Through streets I've told you all about
We'll go from north to south
We'll take Jamaica
And up Hope


Turn Up Your Radio!

Stone won't you roll
Ain't any time left at all
I'm on the right side
If you can see it all
Trying to do some good
But this cruel world never understood
So I'm gonna run
Just as far as I ever could

If you can't hear me
Turn up your radio, louder, louder
If you can't see me
You'd better look out, look out, look out

Gonna call my friends up
Yes, I'm looking at you bud
If you're worryin' about what's wrong
Turn it back into the right stuff
Can I take you higher?
Can we set this world on fire?
If you don't see me or believe me
Then look into my eyes

If you can't hear me
Turn up your radio, louder, louder
If you can't see me
You'd better look out, look out, look out

If you can't hear me
Turn up your radio, louder, louder
If you can't see me
You'd better look out, look out, look out

If you can't hear me
Turn up your radio

If you can't hear me
Turn up your radio

If you can't hear me
Turn up your radio


How We Remember It

Packing up the carnival again
Leaving's not as exciting as arriving
There were nights
when the music was so loud
Billie came down
and we spun the waltzers round
And round

Bobby Boyd took over on the wall of death
'Gravity does not apply,' he said
"if you have friends.'
But in the end the wheel stopped turning
Lorries were loaded, engines turning
Heading out
To a different town

This is how we remember it
Sooner or later your time starts running out
On a bus or a train in a photograph
Say goodbye to the circus leaving town
Cause there's a long road out heading south

Candy floss and rides and cigarettes
Summer nights we never will forget
We were counting on one last turn
Taking the ghost train
Round and round again
Again

This is how we remember it
Sooner or later your time starts running out
On a bus or a train in a photograph
Say goodbye to the circus leaving town
Cause there's a long road
Out heading south
There's a long road out heading south

The grass is bare
from when the fairground stood here
There's a chill in the late October air
We're not there

This is how we remember it
Sooner or later your time starts running out
On a bus or a train in a photograph
Say goodbye to the circus leaving town
Cause there's a long road out heading south
There's a long road out heading south
There's a long road out heading south


Mid Century Modern

Heard you're going through a divorce
But you're still at the same address of course
Mid century modern,
car parked right out front
Same spot as it was

Wasn't that your folk's place?
Where we'd hook up as each July came
And let love arrive then slip away
As easily as the summer

If l wrote it all down
Would I have told you this before
If I'd put it all to bed
Could I explain any more
How long summer shadows fall

I try so hard to forget you
I try so hard to forget you

I drive past your house some times
I make the excuse it's the short way round
And I think of all those years before
No longer modern but getting old

I said I'd write it all down
If I could remember everything
But I left it all there
Thinking one day I'd return
How long summer shadows fall

I try so hard to forget you
I try so hard to forget you

Mid century modern house
all crumbling down
Some things that start so well
just don't seem to work out
Funny how that photograph survived
You and me both so young and alive

I try so hard to forget you
I try so hard to forget you


Curve Of The Line

I've been gathering all my things
Wondering, worrying
what tomorrow brings
One last chance to leave the city behind
Only thing I need is for the sun to shine
Cause I'll be following the curve of the line
Keep on following the curve of the line

I've worked on the land
and I've sailed on the seas
Crossed all the oceans twenty times at least
Had to shake my head
and wonder sometimes
About how God and the Devil
got into mankind
Cause they'd been following
the curve of the line
Kept on following the curve of the line

Maybe somehow now you can picture me
Leaving the world in my wake
and picking up speed
There's nothing to regret and even less time
Regretting doing nothing's
still never been a crime
I was just following the curve of the line
I kept on following the curve of the line

When I hear the wind at my door
it brings the memories round
Of the times I was lost and the times
I was found
There was always good people
showing me a sign
If you lost the will to live
well l never lost mine
I just keep on following the curve of the line
Nothing else for it but the curve of the line

There's been trouble on my mind
and trouble at my door
Trouble's been following me
the whole world over
Some people saved me,
some people were kind If you want to get free
you better make up your mind
Cause everyone's following the curve of the line
They keep on following the curve of the line

Everyone's following the curve of line
They keep on following the curve of the line
Curve of the line
Curve of the line
The curve of the line


If I Lived On My Own

If I lived on my own
And had nobody else to care for
I'd go out when I want
Stay all night, come home later
I would own nothing but my own things
I'd only follow what chance brings
I wouldn't spend my days thinking about you
If I lived on my own

If l lived on my own
Then you'd hear from me on your birthday
If you called I might be home
But if I missed you it wouldn't hurt me
There's plenty room in this house
Much more if you moved out
And I'd not have your things to worry about
If I lived on my own
If I lived on my own

I don't know why you'd ever need to know
But it gets so quiet when you have to go
There'll come a time
when one of us is on our own

If l lived on my own
Would I spend my days thinking about you
Would I reach for the phone
If I wanted to get your advice
About getting through the longest nights
Or how to go from black to white
When everything is wrong how do you make it right?
If I lived on my own
If I lived on my own