Queensryche - Empire Album Lyrics

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Best I Can

A child alone in daddy's room
The gun was hidden here
No one home to catch me when I fall
A young man now in a private chair
I've seen the world through a bitter stare
But my dream is still alive
I'm going to be the best I can

I want to be a busy man
I want to see a change in the future
I'm gonna make the best of what I have
I want to write for a magazine
I'm gonna be the best they've ever seen
I know I'll win if I give it all I can

I won't let go, gotta make the grade
No, I won't let it go
To be the best man, the best man that I can

Back street hoop star you've got it good
You were the wonder of the crumbling neighborhood
Now taking bids on the next six digit plan
Showed me that my will survived
The tragedy that came into my life
giving me hope and the new start
that I have

I won't let go, gotta make the grade
No, I won't let it go
To be the best man, the best man that I can

Step by step I dream the plan
From my chair to walking man
This constant dream is on my mind
Chase the light I see ahead
Luminate the path I tread
I live to be the best I can

Now I'm moving forward
And I'm never looking back
Straight ahead, focused on the big attack
On a roll and I'm never slowing down
I won't be torn between
The man in the chair
And the man that's in my dream
I'm going to melt the two men into one

I won't let go, gotta make the grade I set
No, I won't let it go
To be the best man,
the best man that I can

 

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The Thin Line

Another hungry look, In her eyes again.
Pacing the floor, The hunt begins.
Skin-tight leather provides my pleasure.
Wake my fear, surge with the pressure.
Walk away and leave forever,
do I dare?

Raise my eyes, she stands.
Holding out healing hands...
are you happy now?

I walk the Thin Line for you.
Do just what you say to,
With fear as my friend,
I walk the Thin Line one more time for you.

Addictive face pretending, don't speak the Word.
Forbidden sin relenting, I barely heard...
screams of entry blur my vision.
Wake my fear of Divine Intervention
Crawl away and bleed forever, if you dare.

Hand on mouth the game goes on.
Love, our stage to play upon.
Are you happy now?

I walk the Thin Line for you.
Do just what you say to.
With fear as my friend,
I walk the Thin Line one more time for you.

I walk the Thin Line for you.
Do just what you say to.
I walk the Thin Line for you.
Do just what you say to,
With fear as my friend,
I walk the Thin Line one more time for you.

 

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Jet City Woman

Every time I leave
You say you won't be there.
And you're always there.
Every time I cry your name at night,
you pull close and say it's alright.
I look in your eyes, just like the rain.
Washing me, rain wash over me.
Touching your face, I feel the heat
of your heartbeat echo in my head like a scream.
What you do to me!
Waited so long I can't wait another day without you.

Jet City Woman.
It's a long way, home to my
Jet City Woman.
I see her face everywhere, can't get her out of my mind.

Whenever I'm alone I'm thinking,
there's a part missing from my life.
Wonder where I'd be without your love
holding me together now I'm
watching the time tick, tick away.
Face grows longer every day.
Fortunes are lost on the women I've seen
but without you I can't breathe!
You're the air to me!
Waited so long, I'm all alone thinking about you.

Jet City Woman.
Got to find my way home to her.
Jet City Woman.
I see her face everywhere I look!
Jet City Woman.
Just a thousand miles and I'll be there
Jet City Woman, to make the clouds go away.
Time for some blue sky!

Waited so long now the plane's delayed
and hour, reminds me of all our days apart.
Hold on, just a little longer.

Jet City Woman.
Wonder where I'd be, you're the air to me.
Jet City Woman.
Eyes like the rain, rain down on me.
Jet City Woman.
No more nights alone I'm almost home now.
Jet City Woman.
Close my eyes, I'm there in my Jet City.

 

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Della Brown

You've got a cardboard house.
Live there all the time.
Keep your memories tied with string
The face that many once-adored,
twenty years gone maybe more.
Somewhere you lost your dream.
Mama watched your every move,
but now you're all alone.
She's been gone for awhile.
Daddy left some time ago,
fading years pass too slow.
He's the only one, could make you smile.

--oh, you're still crying--

Big city bound.
Gonna make your mark.
Read your name in the lights.
All the ads and people say,
beauty lets you get your way.
Tried your best to prove them right.
But living on the streets ain't bad,
sad people make you glad.
Pardon me, could you spare some change?

--oh, you're still crying--

Street corner girl.
Watch the crowd go by,
fill your tin can with life.
Summer days tend to slip away
like your men you couldn't make them stay.
Hard to choose, whiskey or a wife.
Sometimes you wonder where's the end.
Where you goin' where you been?
Happiness seems so hard to win.
Most never care to find,
Della Brown sees it all the time.
Looking for the man
to make her smile again

 

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Another Rainy Night

Don't slam the door, on your way out
Don't leave without saying goodbye.
Another long distance night alone,
you leave me wanting, always leave me wanting more.
Last word today, coming home to stay?
Wouldn't that be nice, for a while?

But now my take-out food is growing cold,
and the candle's burned a hole in the floor.
And I'm still waiting for the ring of the phone.

I'm all alone
It's just another rainy night, without you.
Guess I'll leave a light on for you.
It's just another rainy night, without you.

Listen, there's a foghorn blowing
from the coast tonight
Remember making love in the rain?
Strange how laughter looks like crying with no sound
Raindrops taste like tears without the pain.
I'm not much without you, can't leave
if I wanted to. maybe that's why you stay around

But tonight I'll sit here tending the fire
and pace the floor one hundred times in an hour.
And check the voice-mail for a message you've called.

I'm all alone
It's just another rainy night, without you.
Waiting by the phone. Alone.
It's just another rainy night, without you.
Guess I'll leave a light on for you.

I know I've said it before
hate the sound of the closing door
and your footsteps walking away.

[solo]

But now my take-out food is growing cold,
and the candle's burned a hole in the floor.
And I'm still waiting for the ring of the phone.v
I'm all alone
It's just another rainy night, without you.
Waiting by the phone. Alone.
And it's another rainy night, without you.
Guess I'll leave a light on for you.

It's just another rainy night, another rainy night,
another rainy night without you.

 

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Empire

Last night the word came down, ten dead in Chinatown.
Innocent, their only crime was being in the wrong place, at the wrong time
Too bad, people say what's wrong with the kids today
I tell you right now they've got nothing to lose

They're building EMPIRE!

Johnny used to work after school
at the cinema show.
Gotta hustle if he wants an education
Yeah he's got a long way to go.
Now he's out on the streets all day
selling Crack to the people who pay.
Got an AK-47 for his best friend
business the American way.

Eastside meets Westside downtown.
No time, the walls fall down

Can't you feel it coming? EMPIRE! Can't you hear it calling?
Black man, trapped again. Holds his chain in his hand.
Brother killing brother for the profit of another,
Game point, nobody wins. Declines, right on time.
What happened to the dream sublime?
Tear it all down, we'll put it up again. Another EMPIRE?

Eastside meets Westside downtown.
No time, no line, the walls fall down.

Can't you feel it coming? EMPIRE!
Can't you hear it coming EMPIRE!
Can't someone here stop it...??!!

 

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Resistance

Protests in New York.
Listen to the call of the wild.
Brother, sisters carrying signs.
Breathe deep before it's too late;
The sky is falling, burning your eyes.
Down in New Orleans river's boiling.
Nothing living, nothing to eat.
Thank the Lord, daddy's working 8-5.
Paying the doctor, baby's got cancer.

Give and take.
Has all we've learned been wrong?
Look around at what we've been given.
Maybe we've taken too long.

Resistance- shouts the man on the right.
Can't solve the problem overnight.
Resistance- Listen to the call of the wild.

Burning coal.
Got to keep the company warm as
the rain keeps killing the trees.
Cut 'em down quick.
Pay the man his wage, he's making paper
to fuel the "Information Age".
Out in the midwest,
hear the roar of the plough,
turning grassland into sand.
Got to feed the people more every day
but the wind keeps blowing the land away.

Give and take.
Has all we've learned been wrong?
Look around at what we've been given.
Maybe we've taken too long.

Resistance- shouts the man on the right.
Can't solve the problem overnight.
Resistance- Liberal opposition crying violation.
Stop the madness.
Resistance- Through the din, one voice we should hear.
Resistance- Listen to the call of the wild.

There's no easy solution.
The price is high, and it's time to pay.
Turn of the century vision
focused on a better way.
Resistance- shouts the man on the right.
Can't solve the problem overnight.

Resistance- Liberal opposition crying violation.
Stop the madness.
Resistance- Through the din, one voice we should hear.
Resistance- Listen to the call of the wild.

 

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Silent Lucidity

Hush now, don't you cry
Wipe away the teardrop from your eye
You're lying safe in bed
It was all a bad dream
Spinning in your head
Your mind tricked you to feel the pain
Of someone close to you leaving the game of life
So here it is, another chance
Wide awake you face the day
Your dream is over... or has it just begun?

There's a place I like to hide
A doorway that I run through in the night
Relax child, you were there
But only didn't realize and you were scared
It's a place where you will learn
To face your fears, retrace the years
And ride the whims of your mind
Commanding in another world
Suddenly you hear and see
This magic new dimension

I- will be watching over you
I- am gonna help you see it through
I- will protect you in the night
I- am smiling next to you, in Silent Lucidity

[spoken during solo]
(Visualize your dream)
(Record it in the present tense)
(Put it into a permanent form)
(If you persist in your efforts)
(You can achieve dream control)
(Dream control)
(How are we feeling today, better??)
(Dream control, dream control)
(Help me)

If you open your mind for me
You won't rely on open eyes to see
The walls you built within
Come tumbling down, and a new world will begin
Living twice at once you learn
You're safe from pain in the dream domain
A soul set free to fly
A round trip journey in your head
Master of illusion, can you realize
Your dream's alive, you can be the guide but...

I- will be watching over you
I- am gonna help to see it through
I- will protect you in the night
I- am smiling next to you....

 

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Hand On Heart

All eyes were staring
you floated through the room.
Armed with your razor smile
cutting to the bone.
My voice fell useless
you flashed a quick "Hello."
Feeling the fool,
could you tell it showed?

But that was "Sometime Ago."
A memory vague and fading slow,
of somewhere I'd been.

Hand On Heart
A promise, a word and a voice
Hand On Heart
A rhythm of hope and choice, will keep us together.

I don't know if I,
can reach that high.
It's a long way to fall
Hauntingly holding
my fate with a gaze.
Like a child, mesmerized
by the candle's flame.
Oh what lies behind those eyes
I could only guess.
That certain way you stood
apart from the rest.

Now where is "Sometime Ago?"
When everything moved in slo-motion.
Caught by my watering eye

Hand On Heart
A promise, a word and a voice
Hand On Heart
A rhythm of hope and a vision of choice
Hand On Heart
Promising, I'll never go.
Hand On Heart
For reasons you'll never know.

Together through thick and thin
lose or win, I'll be there for you.
Strange how the mind changes
time and time again.
Things once important, now
pale in comparison.

Hand On Heart
A promise, a word and a voice
Hand On Heart
A rhythm of hope and a vision of choice
Hand On Heart
Promising, I'll never go.
Hand On Heart
For reasons you'll never know.

I promise girl, Hand On Heart.

 

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One And Only

Back in '86
February and a special number
I just had to know, is this feeling real?
I picked up the phone
I was one step closer to the danger zone
I knew she'd steal my heart away
But I know I couldn't live without her love
The first time she looked at me
Her smile stayed on my mind
I never thought I'd ever meet
A woman of her kind
Now I'm lost in a lover's daze
And I'm not walking out
Gonna give my heart away
And hope that she will always stay

Call for me, run to me
Whenever you are lonely
Call for me, run to me my lady love

Won't you come and show me that precious smile
And maybe stay for a little while
Close the door, Toss the key
Say you will always be my one and only

Looking back it seems to me
The message in her eyes
Left a lasting spell on me
A feeling I can't hide

Now I'm lost in a lover's daze
And I'm not walking out
Gonna give my heart away
And hope she will always stay

Call for me, run to me
Whenever you are lonely
Call for me, run to me my lady love

Won't you come and show me that precious smile
And maybe stay for a little while
Treat me to your sense of taste and style
Together we can walk the miles

Close the door, toss the key
Say that you will always be my one and only

 

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Anybody Listening?

You and I
long to live like the wind upon the water.
If we close our eyes, we'll maybe realize
there's more to life than what we have known.
And I can't believe I've spent so long
living lies I know were wrong inside,
I've just begun to see the light.

Long ago there was a dream,
had to make a choice or two.
Leaving all I loved behind,
for what nobody knew.
Stepped out on the stage, a life
under lights and judging eyes.
Now the applause has died and I
can dream again...

Is there anybody listening?
Is there anyone that sees what's going on?
Read between the lines,
criticize the words they're selling.
Think for yourself and feel the walls
become sand beneath your feet

Feel the breeze?
Time's so near you can almost taste the freedom.
There's a warm wind from the south.
Hoist the sail and we'll be gone,
by morning this will all seem like a dream.
And if you don't return to sing the song,
maybe just as well.
I've seen the news and there's
not much I can do...alone

Is there anybody listening?
Is there anyone who smiles without a mask?
What's behind the words--images
they know will please us?
I'll take what's real. Bring up the lights.

Is there anybody listening?
Is there anyone that sees what's going on?
Read between the lines,
criticize the words they're selling.
Think for yourself and feel the walls...
become sand beneath your feet.

 

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Last Time In Paris

[Bonus track on 2003 remastered version]
["Ford Fairlane" soundtrack]

Last time in Paris was a little strange,
Had time to myself,
Headed out to see the city sights.
Met a little thing on the Champs-Elysees,
Stole my heart away,
You know I never could pronounce her name.
She didn't mind at all.
We were sitting there,
Seemed like hours
Pass the day away,
Till they said we had to pay,
Or do the dishes or something,
I don't know.
Living at the plaza Athenee,
Got to rest for the show.
Man at the front desk knew my face.
Said he had a room with a view for two.
But he forgot to say,
Renovation next door starts today.
Can't find another room.
All day long they banged,
14 hours.
Show time on my mind,
And wringing somebody's throat,

Last time in Paris
Last time in Paris
Last time in Paris was strange
Last time in Paris
Last time in Paris
Last time in Paris was strange

Overslept, missed the bus to the show
Had to find my own ride.
Took the metro out to Avingnon.
Man at the backstage, didn't know my name.
Said hey, I'm with the band!
You and everyone today.
What is this guy new?
15 minutes fly,
Someone sees me.
Inside let me go
Hey Geoff, we need photos
Before the show!

Last time in Paris
Last time in Paris
Last time in Paris was strange
Last time in Paris
Last time in Paris
Last time in Paris was strange

 

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Scarborough Fair

Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there, she was once a true love of mine.

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt (On the side of a hill in the deep forest green).
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (Tracing a sparrow on snow-crested ground).
Without no seams nor needlework (Blankets and bedclothes the child of the mountain).
Then she'll be a true love of mine (Sleeps unaware of the clarion call).

Tell her to find me an acre of land (On the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves).
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (Washes the ground with so many tears).
Between salt water and the sea strand (A soldier cleans and polishes a gun).
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather (War bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions).
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (Generals order their soldiers to kill).
And gather it all in a bunch of heather (And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten).
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there, she was once a true love of mine.

 

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I Dream In Infrared (1990 Remix)