All the King's Men

[Intro - Electric guitar riff, piano, full band] [Verse 1] I came back on a Sunday With a suitcase off the train Walked the road behind the station Through the cold November rain There was nothing where the house stood Just a fence and broken stone And a sign that said DEVELOPMENT Where I used to call it home [Pre-Chorus] They can tear down every doorway They can pull the chimneys down But there's something in the silence That still echoes through this town [Chorus - Powerful layered harmonies] Send all the king's horses Send all the king's men They'll never find the street Where I was young back then You can buy the bricks and mortar You can build it twice as high But you can't bring back the voices Or the years that passed us by Oh, all the king's men Couldn't put it back again [Verse 2] Mrs. Parker kept the corner shop Till the winter of '82 Now there's shutters on the windows And the paint is peeling blue Jimmy worked beside his father At the factory down the lane Now the gates are chained together And the whistle won't blow again [Pre-Chorus] They can tell us it's the future They can say it's for the best But the names on all those doorsteps Won't be laid so soon to rest [Chorus - Powerful layered harmonies] Send all the king's horses Send all the king's men They'll never find the street Where I was young back then You can buy the bricks and mortar You can build it twice as high But you can't bring back the voices Or the years that passed us by Oh, all the king's men Couldn't put it back again [Instrumental - Melodic soaring electric guitar solo] [Bridge - Intimate piano, restrained vocals] I found a photograph of Christmas Nineteen seventy-three Dad was laughing in the doorway And my brother stood with me I was standing by the window With a cracker crown of gold Funny how a little picture Makes a grown man feel so old [Build - Drums and layered harmonies] And I don't want a palace I don't want a throne I just want the sound of footsteps Coming down the hall at home [Final Chorus - Full band, soaring harmonies] Send all the king's horses Send all the king's men They'll never find the street Where I was young back then You can buy the bricks and mortar You can build it twice as high But you can't bring back the voices Or the years that passed us by Send all the king's horses Send all the king's men They'll never find the street Where I was young back then Oh, all the king's men Couldn't put it back again [Outro - Returning guitar riff, gradual fade] All the king's men...