Sitting alone on 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)
   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 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
   Liked to get around, mixing with all the stars
   But Mrs. Avory's child was all fingers and thumbs
   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
   They took the road so it's alright by me
   Some are survivors, some are debris
   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
  
   Sometime I get suicidal
   Now everyone is a rival
   Different cars, different bars and hotels
   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