How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?
[live during Performance tour, 1991]
One In A Million / Mr. Vain
[live during Discovery tour, 1994]
Left To My Own Devices / Rhythm Of The Night
[live during Discovery tour, 1994]
It's A Sin / I Will Survive
[live during Discovery tour, 1994]
Believe / Song For Guy
[live at An Audience With Elton John, 1997]
Sixteen Going On Seventeen / Being Boring
[live at the Equality Show, 1997]
Climb Every Mountain / Go West
[live at the Equality Show, 1997]
It's Not Unusual
[live at the Equality Show, 1997]
Homosexuality
[a coverversion performed at the Equality Rocks concert in Washington, D. C., 2000]
Positive Role Model
[live at the Glastonbury Festival, 2000]
Do Anything You Wanna Do
[a coverversion performed at the "uni-tour" concert in Teeside, UK, 2002]
Philadelphia
[a coverversion performed at various concerts during 2002]
(You gotta have funk
You gotta have funk)
For the style that you compile, are you sure it's intense?
'Cause some of the things you do and say they just don't make sense
It seems to me to be in the hall of fame I've just seen (You gotta have funk)
Is just a theatrical theme and you live your life in a dream
You live upon a stage and everyone's agreed
You're the brightest hope by far that anyone can see
So when you take the limelight you can guarantee
You're gaining fame and claiming credibility
Tell me baby are you gonna get high as a kite?
Tell me baby are you gonna let it happen every night
How can you expect to be taken seriously?
You live within the law and everyone assumes
You must find this a bore and try something new
You're an intellectual giant, an authority
To preach and teach the whole world about ecology
Tell me baby are you gonna make any other claims?
Tell me baby are you gonna take any of the blame?
How can you expect to be taken seriously?
How can you expect to be taken seriously?
Do you have a message for your fans?
For your fans?
(You gotta have funk
You gotta have funk)
You live within the headlines so everyone can see
You're supporting every new cause and meeting royalty
You're another major artist on a higher plane
Do you think they'll put you in the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame?
Tell me baby how you generate longevity
Tell me baby how you really hate publicity
How can you expect to be taken seriously?
How can you expect to be taken seriously?
How can you expect to be taken seriously?
Seriously, seriously
Aah, seriously
(You gotta have funk
You gotta have funk
You gotta have funk
You gotta have funk
You gotta have funk
You gotta have funk)
For the style that you compile, are you sure it's intense?
'Cause some of the things you do and say they just don't make sense
It seems to me to be in the hall of fame I've just seen
Is just a theatrical theme and you live your life in a dream
Ain't got a friend to your name
They're all teaming, dreaming and scheming, taking a piece of your fame
Well, who's to blame when they laugh at you deliriously?
How would you expect to be taken seriously?
(Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh)
(Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh)
Why this uncertainty?
It's not clear to me
Would you rather be independent?
Have I lost your love?
Have you had enough?
Do you feel too much resentment?
How can I make you see
When you disagree
That you just can't leave?
One in a million men
Could change the way you feel
One in a million men
Baby it's up to me
I won't stand in your way
I can make you stay
Though of course I feel rejected
You're a part of me
You're the family
I can't bear to leave
One in a million men
Could change the way you feel
One in a million men
Baby it's up to me
Feel free to leave
If you think you're trapped
But please believe
I'll always want you back
One in a million men
Could change the way you feel
One in a million men
Baby it's up to me
One in a million men
Could change the way you feel
One in a million men
Baby it's up to me
Call him Mr. Raider, call him Mr. Wrong, call him Mr. Vain
Call him Mr. Raider, call him Mr. Wrong, call him insane
He says: I know what I want and I want it now
I want you, 'cause I'm Mr. Vain
I know what I want and I want it now
I want you, 'cause I'm Mr. Vain
Call him Mr. Raider, call him Mr. Wrong, call him Mr. Vain
(Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh)
(Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh)
One in a million men
Could change the way you feel
One in a million men
Baby it's up to me
One in a million men
Could change the way you feel
One in a million men
Baby it's up to me
I get out of bed at half past ten
Phone up a friend, who's a party animal
Turn on the news and drink some tea
Maybe if you're with me we'll do some shopping
One day I'll read or learn to drive a car
If you pass the test, you can beat the rest
But I don't like to compete or talk street, street, street
I can pick up the best from the party animal
I could leave you, say goodbye
Or I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would
Pick up a brochure about the sun
Learn to ignore what the photographer saw
I was always told that you should join a club
Stick with the gang, if you want to belong
I was a lonely boy, no strength, no joy
In a world of my own at the back of the garden
I didn't want to compete or play out on the street
For in a secret life I was a round head general
I could leave you, say goodbye
Or I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would
Left to my own devices, I probably would
Oh, I would
I was faced with a choice at a difficult age
Would I write a book? Or should I take to the stage?
But in the back of my head I heard distant feet
Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat
This is the rhythm of the night
One night, oh yeah
The rhythm of the night
This is the rhythm of my life
One life, oh yeah
The rhythm of my life
This is the rhythm of the night
One night, oh yeah
The rhythm of the night
This is the rhythm of my life
One life, oh yeah
The rhythm of my life
It's not a crime when you look the way you do
The way I like to picture you
When I get home, it's late at night
I pour a drink and watch the fight
Turn off the TV, look in a book
Pick up the phone, fix some food
Maybe I'll sit up all night and day
Waiting for the minute I hear you say
I could leave you, say goodbye
Or I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would
Come on, baby, say goodbye
Or I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would
Left to my own devices, I probably would
(Come on baby)
Left to my own devices, I probably would
Once I was afraid, I was petrified
Can't think that I could never live without you by my side
Then I spent too many nights thinking how you did me wrong
And I grew strong, I've learned how to get along
Now go, walk out the door, just don't turn around now
You're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye?
Did I crumble, did I lay down and die?
Oh no, not I
I will survive
I will survive
(Twenty seconds and counting...
... t minus fifteen seconds, ten seconds and counting...)
When I look back upon my life
It's always with a sense of shame
I've always been the one to blame
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's a sin
Everything I've ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I've ever been
Everywhere I'm going to
It's a sin
At school they taught me how to be
So pure in thought and word and deed
They didn't quite succeed
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's a sin
Everything I've ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I've ever been
Everywhere I'm going to
It's a sin
Father, forgive me
I tried not to do it
Turned over a new leaf
Then tore right through it
Whatever you taught me
I didn't believe it
Father, you fought me
'Cause I didn't care
And I still don't understand
So I look back upon my life
Forever with a sense of shame
I've always been the one to blame
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's a sin
Everything I've ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I've ever been
Everywhere I'm going to - it's a sin
Go, walk out the door, don't turn around now
You're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye?
Did I crumble, did I lay down and die?
Oh no, not I
I will survive, ooh
As long as I know how to love
I know I will survive
I've got all my love to give
I've got all my life to live
And I'll survive
Hey, hey
I will survive
It's a sin
I will survive
It's a sin
Confiteor Deo omnipotenti vobis fratres, quia peccavi nimis cogitatione
Verbo, opere et omissione, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
I will survive
It's a sin
I will survive
It's a sin
I believe in love, it's all we got
Love has no boundaries, costs nothing to touch
War makes money, cancer sleeps
Curled up in my father and that means something to me
Churches and dictators, politics and papers
Everything crumbles sooner or later
But love, I believe in love
I believe in love
I believe in love, it's all we got
Love has no boundaries, no borders to cross
Fathers and sons make love and guns
Families together kill someone
Without love, I believe in love
I believe in life
Isn't everything
Isn't everything
Isn't everything
Life
Isn't everything
Isn't everything
Isn't everything
Life
Isn't everything
Isn't everything
Isn't everything
'Cos I believe in love
You wait, little girl, on an empty stage
For fate to turn the light on
Your life, little girl, is an empty page
That men will want to write on
To write on...
You are sixteen going on seventeen
Baby, it's time to think
Better beware, be canny and careful
Baby, you're on the brink
You are sixteen going on seventeen
Fellows will fall in line
Eager young lads and rogues and cads
Offer you food and wine
Totally unprepared are you
To face a world of men
Timid and shy and scared are you
Of things beyond your ken
You'll need someone older and wiser
Telling you what to do
I am seventeen going on eighteen
I'll take care of you!
I came across a cache of old photos
And invitations to teenage parties
"Dress in white" one said, with quotations
From someone's wife, a famous writer
In the nineteen-twenties
When you're young you find inspiration
In anyone who's ever gone
And opened up a closing door
She said we were never feeling bored
'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end
When I went I left from the station
With a haversack and some trepidation
Someone said: "If you're not careful
You'll have nothing left and nothing to care for
In the nineteen-seventies"
But I sat back and looking forward
My shoes were high and I had scored
I'd bolted through a closing door
I would never find myself feeling bored
'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end
We were always hoping that, looking back
You could always rely on a friend
Now I sit with different faces
In rented rooms and foreign places
All the people I was kissing
Some are here and some are missing
In the nineteen-nineties
I never dreamt that I would get to be
The creature that I always meant to be
But I thought in spite of dreams
You'd be sitting somewhere here with me
'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end
We were always hoping that, looking back
You could always rely on a friend
And we were never being boring
We were never being bored
We were never being boring
We were never being bored
Climb every mountain
Search high and low
Follow every byway
Every path you know
Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
'Til you find your dream!
A dream that will need
All the love you can give
Every day of your life
For as long as you live
Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
'Til you find your dream!
(Together) We will go our way
(Together) We will leave someday
(Together) Your hand in my hand
(Together) We will make our plans
(Together) We will fly so high
(Together) Tell all our friends goodbye
(Together) We will start life new
(Together) This is what we'll do
(Go West) Life is peaceful there
(Go West) In the open air
(Go West) Baby you and me
(Go West) This is our destiny (aah)
(Go West) Sun in wintertime
(Go West) We will do just fine
(Go West) Where the skies are blue
(Go West, this is what we're gonna do)
There where the air is free
We'll be (we'll be) what we want to be (aah aah aah aah)
Now if we make a stand (aah)
We'll find (we'll find) our promised land (aah)
(I know that) There are many ways
(To live there) In the sun or shade
(Together) We will find a place
(To settle) Where there's so much space
(Without rush) And the pace back east
(The hustling) Rustling just to feed
(I know I'm) Ready to leave too
(So that's what) We are gonna do
(What we're gonna do is
Go West) Life is peaceful there
(Go West) There in the open air
(Go West) Baby you and me
(Go West) This is our destiny
(Life is peaceful there)
Go West (In the open air)
Go West (Baby you and me)
Go West (This is our destiny)
Come on, come on, come on, come on
(Go West) Sun in wintertime
(Go West) We will feel just fine
(Go West) Where the skies are blue
(Go West) This is what we're gonna do
(Come on, come on, come on
Go West)
It's not unusual
To be loved by anyone
It's not unusual
To have fun with anyone
But when I see you
Hanging about with anyone
It's not unusual to see me cry
Oh, I wanna die
It's not unusual
To go out at any time
But when I see you out and about
It's such a crime
If you should ever want
To be loved by anyone
It's not unusual
It happens every day
No matter what you say
You find it happens all the time
Love will never do
What you want it to
Why can't this crazy love be mine
It's not unusual
To be mad with anyone
It's not unusual
To be sad with anyone
But if I ever find
That you've changed at anytime
It's not unusual to find out
That I'm in love with you
It's not unusual
To be loved by anyone
It's not unusual
To have fun with anyone
But when I see you
Hanging about with anyone
It's not unusual
It happens every day
No matter what you say
You find it happens all the time
Love will never do
What you want it to
Why can't this crazy love be mine
It's not unusual
To be mad with anyone
It's not unusual
To be sad with anyone
But if I ever find
That you've changed at anytime
It's not unusual to find out
That I'm in love with you
Sitting in a Paris disco
With a rocket in my hand
Just flew in from San Francisco
Will he take me as I am?
Down on the street
Up on the roof
I'll find you wherever I go
Whatever they do
Love will find a way
Homosexuality - yes sir!
Do you want to get next to me?
Homosexuality - yes sir!
Anything to fill your need
Homosexuality
Homosexuality - yes sir!
Homosexuality
Homosexuality - yes sir!
Cruising in a Brooklyn disco
With a trick from Amsterdam
I got lost on Fire Island
Found my daddy in the can
Down on the street
Up on the roof
I'll find you wherever I go
Whatever they do
Love will find a way
Homosexuality - yes sir!
Do you want to get next to me?
Homosexuality - yes sir!
Anything to fill your need
Homosexuality
Homosexuality - yes sir!
Homosexuality
Homosexuality - yes sir!
Nobody, nobody else
Nobody, nobody else
Nobody, nobody else
Nobody, nobody
Homosexuality
Homosexuality - yes sir!
Homosexuality
Homosexuality - yes sir!
Down on the street
Up on the roof
I'll find you wherever you go
Whatever they do
Love will find a way
Homosexuality - yes sir!
You've got to get next to me
Homosexuality - yes sir!
Anything to fill your need
Homosexuality
Nobody, nobody else
Nobody, nobody else
Nobody, nobody else
Nobody, nobody else
Homosexuality
Here we are, where we were
Back on everything
Went too far, now we're fine
Back on everything
So much for taking it, day by day
Back on everything
Instead of taking another way
We’re back on everything
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
In a changing world there's so much you could be
Why can't you choose yourself like your enemy?
Have you ever imagined a new you?
I could be someone else
The question's who?
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
Gonna break out of this city
Leave the people here behind
Searching for adventure
Is the type of life to find
Tired of doing day-jobs
With no thanks for what I do
I know I must be someone
Now I'll gonna find out who
Why don't you ask them
What they expect from you?
Why don't you tell them
What you are gonna do?
You get so lonely
Maybe it's better that way
And ain't you only
You got something to say
Do anything you wanna do
Do anything you wanna do
Don't need no politician
Tell me things I ought to be
Neither no optician
Tell me what I ought to see
No one tells you nothing
Even when you know they know
They tell you what you should be
They don't like to see you grow
Why don't you ask them
What they expect from you?
Why don't you tell them
What you are gonna do?
You get so lonely
Maybe it's better that way
And ain't you only
You got something to say
Do anything you wanna do
Do anything you wanna do
Gonna break out of this city
Leave the people here behind
Searching for adventure
Is the type of life you'll find
Tired of doing day-jobs
With no thanks for what I do
I know I must be someone
Now I'll gonna find out who
Why don´t you ask them
What they expect from you?
Why don't you tell them
What you are gonna do?
You get so lonely
Maybe it's better that way
And ain't you only
You got something to say
Do anything you wanna do
Do anything you wanna do
Sometimes I think that I know
What love's all about
And when I see the light
I know I'll be all right
I've got my friends in the world
I had my friends
When we were boys and girls
And the secrets came unfurled
City of brotherly love
Place i call home
Don't turn your back on me
I don't want to be alone
Love lasts forever
Someone is talking to me
Calling my name
Tell me I'm not to blame
I won't be ashamed of love
Philadelphia
City of brotherly love
Brotherly love
Sometimes I think that I know
What love's all about
And when I see the light
I know I'll be all right
Philadelphia