Elton John - Ticking Lyrics
Music by elton johnLyrics by bernie taupinAvailable on the album caribouAn extremely quiet child they called you in your school reportsHes always taken interest in the subjects that hes taughtSo what was it that brought the squad car screaming up your driveTo notify your parents of the manner in which you diedAt st. patricks every sunday, father fletcher heard your sinsOh, hes unconcerned with competition he never cares to winBut blood stained a young hand that never held a gunAnd his parents never thought of him as their troubled sonNow youll never get to heaven mama saidRemember mama saidTicking, tickingGrow up straight and true blueRun along to bedHear it, hear it, ticking, tickingThey had you holed up in a downtown bar screaming for a priestSome gook said his brains just snapped then someone called the policeYoud knifed a negro waiter who had tried to calm you downOh youd pulled a gun and told them all to lay still on the groundPromising to hurt no one, providing they were stillA young man tried to make a break, with tear-filled eyes you killedThat gun butt felt so smooth and warm cradled in your palmOh your childhood cried out in your head they mean to do you harmDont ever ride on the devils knee mama saidRemember mama saidTicking, tickingPay your penance well, my childFear where angels treadHear it, hear it, ticking, tickingWithin an hour the news had reached the media machineA male caucasian with a gun had gone berserk in queensThe area had been sealed off, the kids sent home from schoolFourteen people lying dead in a bar they called the kicking muleOh they pleaded to your sanity for the sake of those insideThrow out your gun, walk out slow just keep your hands held highBut they pumped you full of rifle shells as you stepped out the doorOh you danced in death like a marionette on the vengeance of the lawYouve slept too long in silence mama saidRemember mama saidTicking, tickingCrazy boy, youll only wind up with strange notions in your headHear it, hear it, ticking, ticking
