Highway Code

[Verse 1a] They used to come round with the seasons You’d see them shuffling to the door In shabby suits and brand-new boots Laced up with bits of straw [Verse 1b] They could read the signs left behind by The brethren who’d been that way I wish I knew what their review of Our house might say [Chorus 1] Down the highways and the byways of every English postal code As the sparrow sped, came the men who read the writings of the road [Verse 2a] They all wore hats whatever the weather; It was said that they had fleas And their savage hair made people stare Even in the seventies [Verse 2b] But no-one chased them off with base- Ball bats or gave them grief At least, not round here for God knows we’re Genteel beyond belief [Chorus 2] So come might come main, come sun come rain, bound for no precise abode Rolling into view came the men who knew the lingo of the road [Middle] A little power, a little sway A sunbeam on a winter's day To split the rich and mighty from the slaves And yet for all their finery They’re stuck down here with the likes of me As we flit between our cradles and our graves [Chorus 3] Along the bridle path to the aftermath - where the rivers all once flowed As first snow would melt, went the men who smelt of spirits and the road