The tree-lined promenade of Cheltenham

Fine display of ornamental bedding plants

Gaumont cinema in Winchcombe Street

The Dawn Run pub for a lunchtime meet

Those terraces look oh so fine

Life just can’t be more sublime

I know it ain’t Memphis

Nor the Isle of Man

But I love Cheltenham.

Go to the Pittville Pump Rooms for a dance

Down to the Pittville Lake for a short romance

Retrace your steps back in real time,

If you lose your dreams I’ll gladly hand you mine

Neptunes fountain, South African memorial

Nowhere life could be more advertorial

You don’t need Paris

You won’t need Port Morant

‘Cos you’ve got Cheltenham

I’d rather be on this wrought-iron work balcony

Than swinging up and down in a coconut tree

I know this ain’t St Petersburg

Big Apple or Japan,

But I love Cheltenham.

I have been to Rome and Marrakech and Havana looked real nice

But nothing attracts my fancy more than this Anglo-Indian paradise

At Queens Circus to the Bar B Q and Waikiki

Listening to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee

Belzoni, Mississippi gave birth to Otis Span

But there's as much to pay your honour to in good old Cheltenham

Not only to the waters, to Miss Beal or Gustav Holst

But to Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones

Now here's a story I will tell

About a fine young man

You old folks knew him well

No one could keep him from his fate

So one dreadful night the price was paid.

Born in Cotswolds' refined Cheltenham

His parents they did not understand

Why he lived his life in a way that hurt their pride

So they left his suitcase and a note outside.

A father of two before the age of nineteen

But no child or wife could fetter his dreams

He went up to the smoke to see Muddy play

And said I wanna be like the man one day

Named himself Elmo Lewis and he played the slide

Met the Dartford twins & let them join his side

He made his guitar weep and whine and moan

Sayin hey ye boys...... We’ll be the Rollin’ Stones

While golden lights did spread their name

That rolling stone wandered off in fame

He lost his wives, he lost his band

The test of time he just did not stand

One day the morning paper read that he was dead

The guy’s timing was always dodgy the guitar player said death by

misadventure we were told to believe

And the coroner asked why don’t we all agree to agree

And here a young man’s life comes to an end

And I’m not gonna moralize about a life being wasted or being well spend

I’m not going to tell you what is right or what is wrong

But is this the way people get along?

Down Courtfield Road they're walkin’, rock princes, hip nobility

The cops start leaning on me, set out to destroy me

I feel like Dean Moriarty, I gotta take to the road

And burn St Anthony's fire, before my blood runs cold

And I’ll keep on running

I’m gonna keep on goin’

I will keep on rocking

Till the hammer comes down

West Sussex quarter sessions,

Glimmer Twins in the dock

Cross fade, white noise, tape loops...

My mind's locked up

Pissed with bein’ busted

Norman Pilcher‘s pounding my door

I'm completely paralyzed, lord I can't take it no more

And so I’ll keep on running

I’m gonna keep on goin’

I will keep on rocking

Till the hammer comes down

Inner London sessions,

Robert Seaton he will speak out loud

And sentence me down for prison,

He will feel no doubt

I don't stand a chance, how come they be so mean,

oh Alexandra I need your 14 hour technicolor dream

And I shall keep on running

I’m gonna keep on goin’

I will keep on rocking

Till the hammer comes down

Black and white pictures, full colour dreams

Names that's been lost in the wind

My head's full of questions

Memories crawl back and play movies in the back of my head

A farewell to moments, places & friends

Hello to a foe now to fight

Singers come & stars fade away

And no one plays the blues like Brian.

I read books and wrote letters, knocked too many doors

As people turned their heads without a word

Time travelled with me and I realized

We take and don't give in return

A farewell to the dreams, to the hopes of the lonely

A hello to a foe now to fight

Singers come & stars fade away

And no one will play the blues like Brian

Different cars, different women, different records to play

But the same sun goes down& the same moon rises

The same useless prayers to pray

A farewell to my ideals, my hopes and my dreams

A hello to a faceless foe now to fight

Gone are the days of the young hearted lover

When no one played the blues like Brian.

As each sharp outline
Melts and weaves
And undulates in time
With the compulsive rhythmic insistence
Of each pounding musical line
The scornful dancing lady dressed in black at last reveals
She really isn't there at all
She simply isn't real
So thank you for being there my love
At least I know that you're real

As I speak with you of love
In metaphors and in code
A need for satisfaction grows
But they're stories still to be told
Of experience and fantasies
Of vision and of fears
But when the visions fade
You'll be there
Lying in my tears
Thank you for being there my love
Then I know that you're real
 

If the lashing tail of paranoiac fears
Strike my smarting face
Your understanding comforts me
And puts everything in its place
So hush my love
Your look and your touch
Can leave everything unsaid
And I can face all those little people
Just like Gulliver did
Thank you for being there, my love
At last I've found someone who's real

The maniacal choirs that screamed out a warning
Now sings out lullaby
The walls that crashed to bury you and me
Now shelter our hideaway
Thank you for being there my love
At last I've found someone that's real
Thank you for being there my love