Sitting alone in my hotel   Looking in the mirror wondering, well   After all this time you never thought   You'd still be out on the road      Like a gypsy I was born to roam   Like a wanderer with no fixed abode   I think about the friends   I've left behind on the road      Well, the road's been rocky along the way   It's been a long, hard haul on the motorway   But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day      (On the road)   The bed and breakfasts and the greasy spoons   (The road)   The loser bars and the noisy rooms   (The road)   The casualties who did too many lines   (The road)   I'm wasted talent on women and wine      I think of all the friends I've left behind   Whenever it's time to get back out on the road      Started playing blues in a coffee bar   I took a trip down the Charing Cross Road   With my imitation Gretsch guitar   And my head full of songs and my eyes full of stars      I saw a band called the Rolling Stones   I thought, "That's it, I'll get a band   I'm leaving home, I'm out on the road"      The motorways all over this land   (The road)   Far away places like Wigan and Birmingham   (The road)   Didn't have no name, didn't have any fans   (The road)   Didn't have no money, so we slept in the van      All those early gigs we ever played   Sometimes we were lucky if we even got paid   On the road      Pete played on the bass guitar   (The road)   Liked to get around, mixing with all the stars   (The road)   But Mrs. Avory's child was all fingers and thumbs   (The road)   But solid as a rock, setting time on the drums      While Dave, the Rave hit the rock 'n' roll riffs   Yours truly strummed away with a slightly limp wrist   On the road      Everyday is when I can't get used to it   Everyday is when I can't get away   Another day, another freeway to face   That's the road      Well, life is a road, it's a motorway   And the road gets rocky along the way   But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day      (On the road)   Jimi Hendrix, The Who, the Led Zeppelin and Free   (The road)   They took the road so it's alright by me   (The road)   Some are survivors, some are debris   (The road)   If you play in a band that's the road that you take      Living in it, eating in it, sleeping in it   You wake up in the morning, what do you see?   The road      Life is a road, it's a motorway   Lost a lot of good friends along the way   All the families and homes that I've left behind   To the wives and the lovers and friends who had their time      I say, "You take your road and I'll take mine"   (You take your road and I'll take mine)   You take your road and I'll take mine   (You take your road and I'll take mine)      Life is a road, it's a motorway   And the road gets rocky along the way   But if it gets too smooth it's time to call it a day      (On the road)   Observed all the various phases from   Flower power, heavy metal and acid rock   And still all the critics keep saying   "Are they still around? When they gonna stop?"      It's just the dedicated followers of fashion who like putting down   All the well respected men who came dancing and are still on the road      (The road)   Sometime I get suicidal   (The road)   Now everyone is a rival   (The road)   Different cars, different bars and hotels   (The road)   Corporations, big business and egos      When it all gets too bad I think back   When we were all each other had   When we started out on the road      And there's gas in my tank   And I've still got a way to go   Another hotel, it's time to check out soon   As I look around the room      I think of all the friends I've left behind   On the road