VERSE: Cm Eb I was longing to be wooed Ab Cm I was ready to be humbled Ab Cm by the words that you had written Bb Ab by the syllables you mumbled Cm Eb yeah, I was ready in my heart Ab Cm to have my heart invaded Ab Cm by the fervour of your passion Bb Ab yes, I came to be persuaded
VERSE: Cm Eb But when I heard your ragged voice Ab Cm something switched in my perception Ab Cm and I knew I was the victim Bb Ab of a beautiful deception Cm Eb all my once exact beliefs Ab Cm like tangled threads unravelled Ab Cm I walked out, stunned and liberated Bb Ab and so began my travels
CHORUS: Ab Eb Keep the river on your right Bb Cm and the highway at your shoulder Ab Eb Bb and the front line in your sights, pioneer Ab Cm Keep your eye on the road Bb Cm remember what you told her Ab Fm Cm this is all in code, my dear
VERSE: Cm Eb You better get yourself a coat Ab Cm said the handsome taxi driver Ab Cm and he sighed like seven bridges Bb Ab like a natural-born survivor Cm Eb as we drove into the night Ab Cm I could feel the forest jangling Ab Cm all the choices laid before me Bb Ab Eb and their consequences dangling
VERSE: Cm Eb We came upon a stricken ship Ab Cm that must have once been splendid Ab Cm the captain as he died said Bb Ab "Boys, our revels now are ended" Cm Eb I heard a wild holy band Ab Cm playing jazz that was outrageous, Ab Cm that recalled the days of rapture Bb Ab when our love was still young and contagious
CHORUS: Ab Eb Keep the river on your right Bb Cm and the highway at your shoulder Ab Eb Bb and the front line in your sights, pioneer Ab Cm Keep your eye on the road Bb Cm remember what you told her Ab Fm Cm this is all in code, my dear
VERSE: Cm Eb In a dim-lit motel room Ab Cm two sad lovers were discoursing Ab Cm on the dignity of exile Bb Ab and the merits of divorcing Cm Eb she said "all certainty is gone" Ab Cm but he leapt up, still denying, Ab Cm cried "I won't believe the flame I lit Bb Ab is dead or even dying"
VERSE: Ab Cm Eb She left him drooling in the dust Ab Cm and with rucksack packed begun her Ab Cm bitter journey to the border Bb Ab which is where I wooed and won her Cm Eb she was Aphrodite, Helen, Thetis, Ab Cm Eve among the satyrs Ab Cm She was Venus in a v-neck sweater Bb Ab she was all that ever mattered
CHORUS: Ab Eb Keep the river on your right Bb Cm and the highway at your shoulder Ab Eb Bb and the front line in your sights, pioneer Ab Cm Keep your eye on the road Bb Cm remember what you told her Ab Fm Cm this is all in code, my dear
VERSE: Cm Eb Like Dean Moriarty's ghost Ab Cm I came in quest of secret knowledge Ab Cm in the winter of my journey Bb Ab to a crumbling Druid college Cm Eb there I read the books of lore Ab Cm and contemplated in seclusion Ab Cm but I took my leave embittered, Bb Ab still in love with my illusions
VERSE: Ab Cm Eb In the drizzling Irish rain Ab Cm as a tender dawn was breaking Ab Cm in a doorway I stood spellbound by Bb Ab the ancient music they were making Cm Eb I took my breakfast with the Gods Ab Cm on a blushing summer morning Ab Cm till a wind blew them all away Bb Ab I had misread every warning
CHORUS: Ab Eb Keep the river on your right Bb Cm and the highway at your shoulder Ab Eb Bb and the front line in your sights, pioneer Ab Cm Keep your eye on the road Bb Cm remember what you told her Ab Fm Cm this is all in code, my dear
VERSE: Cm Eb Under cold electric light Ab Cm I watch the scenes mutating Ab Cm like an old time frontier ballad Bb Ab or a carousel rotating Cm Eb As if in a moment from a film Ab Cm with astonishing precision Ab Cm the camera zooms in close Bb Ab and a figure comes into vision
VERSE: Cm Eb I'm in Tokyo, it's dawn Ab Cm and it's raining hallelujahs Ab Cm down the bright-lit neon canyons Bb Ab along the sidewalks of Shibuya Cm Eb I'm trying to take a stance Ab Cm and rise above my contradictions Ab Cm but I'm just a bunch of words in pants Bb Ab and most of those are fiction
CHORUS: Ab Eb Keep the river on your right Bb Cm and the highway at your shoulder Ab Eb Bb and the front line in your sights, pioneer Ab Cm Keep your eye on the road Bb Cm remember what you told her Ab Fm Cm this is all in code, my dear
CHORUS: Ab Eb Keep the river on your right Bb Cm and the highway at your shoulder Ab Eb Bb and the front line in your sights, pioneer Ab Cm Keep your eye on the road Bb Cm remember what you told her Ab Fm Cm this is all in code, my dear