Released: October 22, 1976
Songwriter: Bernie Taupin Davey Johnstone Elton John
Producer: Gus Dudgeon
[Verse 1]
Sober in the morning light
Things look so much different
To how they looked last night
A pale face pressed to an unmade bed
Like flags of many nations flying high above her head
The cellophane still on the flowers
The telegram still in her hand
As whispers circulate all day
Their back-stage baby princess passed away
[Chorus]
And you can cage the songbird
But you can't make her sing
And you can trap the free bird
But you'll have to clip her wings
Because she'll soar like a hawk when she flies
But she'll dive like an eagle when she dies
[Verse 2]
Promises of no more lies
Fell flat upon an empty stage
Before the audience arrived
A return in time to the cheaper seats
She never knew what lay beneath
Just a dated handbill they found between the sheets
Let down before the final curtain
A shallow heart that left her cold
She left in rouge upon the mirror
A circled kiss to the faithful fans who'd miss her
[Chorus]
Sober in the morning light
Things look so much different
To how they looked last night
A pale face pressed to an unmade bed
Like flags of many nations flying high above her head
The cellophane still on the flowers
The telegram still in her hand
As whispers circulate all day
Their back-stage baby princess passed away
[Chorus]
And you can cage the songbird
But you can't make her sing
And you can trap the free bird
But you'll have to clip her wings
Because she'll soar like a hawk when she flies
But she'll dive like an eagle when she dies
[Verse 2]
Promises of no more lies
Fell flat upon an empty stage
Before the audience arrived
A return in time to the cheaper seats
She never knew what lay beneath
Just a dated handbill they found between the sheets
Let down before the final curtain
A shallow heart that left her cold
She left in rouge upon the mirror
A circled kiss to the faithful fans who'd miss her
[Chorus]
Blue Moves
- Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
- Out of the Blue
- Your Starter for...
- Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance!)
- Idol
- If There’s a God in Heaven (What’s He Waiting For?)
- Where’s the Shoorah?
- Someone’s Final Song
- The Wide-Eyed and Laughing
- Between Seventeen and Twenty
- Shoulder Holster
- Crazy Water
- Cage the Songbird
- Boogie Pilgrim
- Chameleon
- One Horse Town
- Tonight
- Theme from a Non-Existent TV Series
- Blue Moves (1976)
- Your Song
- Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time)
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- Tiny Dancer
- Bennie and the Jets
- I’m Still Standing
- Can You Feel the Love Tonight (End Title)
- Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me
- Candle in the Wind
- Daniel
- Saturday Night’s Alright (for Fighting)
- Crocodile Rock
- I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues
- Candle in the Wind 1997
- Sacrifice
- Levon
- Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
- Someone Saved My Life Tonight
- Border Song
- Honky Cat
- The One
- The Bitch is Back
- Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
- Electricity (Billy Elliot)