Sitting alone on my hotel

Looking in the mirror wondering, "well,

After all this time you never thought you'd still be out on the road?"

Like a gypsy I was born to roam

Like a wanderer with no fixed abode

I think about the friends I've left behind on the road



Well, the road's been rocky along the way

It's been a long, hard haul on the motorway

But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day



(On the road)

The bed and breakfasts and the greasy spoons

(The road)

The loser bars and the noisy rooms

(The road)

The casualties who did too many lines

(The road)

Wasted talent on women and wine



I think of all the friends I've left behind

Whenever it's time to get back out on the road



Started playing blues in a coffee bar

I took a trip down Charing Cross Road

With my imitation Gretsch guitar

And my head full of songs and my eyes full of stars

I saw a band called the Rolling Stones

I thought, "that's it, I'll get a band,

I'm leaving home, I'm out on the road."



The motorways all over this land

(The road)

Far away places like Wigan and Birmingham

(The road)

Didn't have no name, didn't have any fans

(The road)

Didn't have no money so we slept in the van



All those early gigs we ever played

Sometimes we were lucky if we even got paid

On the road

Pete played on the bass guitar

Liked to get around, mixing with all the stars

But Mrs. Avory's child was all fingers and thumbs

But solid as a rock, setting time on the drums

While Dave the Rave hit the rock 'n' roll riffs

Yours truly strummed away with a slightly limp wrist

On the road



Everyday is when I can't get used to it

Everyday is when I can't get away

Another day, another freeway to face

That's the road



Well, life is a road, it's a motorway

And the road gets rocky along the way

But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day



(On the road)

Jimi Hendrix, The Who, the Led Zeppelin and Free

They took the road so it's alright by me

Some are survivors, some are debris

If you play in a band that's the road that you take

Living in it, eating in it, sleeping in it

You wake up in the morning, what do you see?

The road



Life is a road, it's a motorway

Lost a lot of good friends along the way

All the families and homes that I've left behind

To the wives and the lovers and friends who had their time

I say, "you take your road and I'll take mine."

(You take your road and I'll take mine)

You take your road and I'll take mine

(You take your road and I'll take mine)



Life is a road, it's a motorway

And the road gets rocky along the way

But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day



(On the road)

Observed all the various phases from

Flower power, heavy metal and acid rock

And still all the critics keep saying

"Are they still around? When they gonna stop?"

It's just the dedicated followers of fashion who like putting down

All the well respected men who came dancing and are still on the road



Sometime I get suicidal

Now everyone is a rival

Different cars, different bars and hotels

Corporations, big business and egos

When it all gets too bad I think back

When we were all each other had

When we started out on the road



And there's gas in my tank and I've still got a way to go

Another hotel, it's time to check out soon

As I look around the room

I think of all the friends I've left behind

On the road