Telegraph Road

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A long time ago came a man on a track
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walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
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and he put down his load where he thought it was the best
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he made a home in the wilderness
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he built a cabin and a winter store
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and he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
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and the other travellers came riding down the track
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and they never went further and they never went back
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then came the churches then came the schools
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then came the lawyers then came the rules
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then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
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and the dirty old track was the telegraph road

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Then came the mines - then came the ore
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then there was the hard times then there was a war
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telegraph sang a song about the world outside
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telegraph road got so deep and so wide
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like a rolling river. . .

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And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze
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people driving home from the factories
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there's six lanes of traffic
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three lanes moving slow. . .

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I used to like to Go to work but they shut it down
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I've got a right to Go to work but there's no work here to be found
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yes and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed
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we're gonna have to reap from seed that's been sowed
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and the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles
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they can always fly away from this rain and this cold
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you can here them singing out their telegraph code
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all the way down the telegraph road

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You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights
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when life was just a bet on a race between the lights
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you had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
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now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
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but believe in me baby and I'll take you away
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from out of this darkness and into the day
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from these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
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from the anger that lives on the streets with these names
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'cos I've run every red light on memory lane
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I've seen desperation explode into flames
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and I don't want to see it again. . .

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From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closed
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all the way