Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida lyrics

Sad to say our mighty ruler
Is not really in the pink
Hopes could not be minuscular
That he'll come back from the brink
Not to beat around the bush
He looks like heading for his box
At the risk of seeming pushy
We must plan for future shocks

According to the Hawk God Horus
Our most regal invalid
Is not that much longer for us
Build another pyramid

Build it, build it

Duet with Leann Rimes
From the album Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida

I am here to tell you we can never meet again
Simple really, isn't it, a word or two and then
A lifetime of not knowing where or how or why or when
You think of me or speak of me or wonder what befell
The someone you once loved so long ago so well

Never wonder what I'll feel as living shuffles by

This is the moment when the gods expect me
To beg for help but I won't even try
I want nothing in the world but myself to protect me
But I won't lie down, roll over and die

All I have to do is to forget how much I love him
All I have to do is put my longing to one side
Tell myself that love's an ever-changing situation
Passion would have cooled and all the magic would have died

In life one has to face a huge assortment
Of nauseating fads and good advice
There's health and fitness, diet and deportment
And other pointless forms of sacrifice

Conversation, wit, I am a doubter
Manners, charm, they're no way to impress
So forget the inner me, observe the outer
I am what I wear and how I dress

Overwear, underwear, anytime, anywhere

I once knew all the answers, I stood on certain ground
A picture of true happiness, confidence so effortless
No brighter could be found

I never asked the questions that trouble me today
I knew all there was to know, love worn lightly, put on show
A conquest on display

And who would have thought his love could be so good
Not me, not me
My secrets and my passions understood

I'm sorry for everything I've said
And for anything I forgot to say too
When things get so complicated
I stumble, at best, muddle through
I wish that our lives could be simple
I don't want the world, only you
I wish I could tell you this face to face
But there's never the time, never the place
So this letter will have to do
I love you

Performed with Heather Headley and Sherie Scott
From the album Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida

It's so strange he doesn't show me more affection than he needs
Almost formal, too respectful, never takes romantic leads
There are times when I imagine I'm not always on his mind
He's not thinking what I'm thinking, always half a beat behind
Always half a beat behind

Like father, like son
Like father, like son
Like father, like son

Don't come on so cocksure boy, you can't escape your genes
No point in feeling purer boy, your background intervenes
Listen good and listen straight, you're not the master of your fate
To this you must be reconciled, you'll always be your father's child
At times acclaimed, at times reviled

We all lead such elaborate lives
Wild ambitions in our sights
How an affair of the heart survives
Days apart and hurried nights

Seems quite unbelievable to me
I don't want to live like that
Seems quite unbelievable to me
I don't want to love like that
I just want our time to be slower and gentler, wiser, free

We all live in extravagant times
Playing games we can't all win

I grew up in your hometown, at least began to grow
I hadn't got to my first shave before the body blow
Egyptians in the courtyard, my family in chains
You witnessed our abduction which possibly explains

How I know you
How I know you

Before that fateful morning my family enjoyed
A privileged existence, for my father was employed

Duet with Lulu

Everything is settled, immovable and calm
Nothing that has plagued our lives can ever do us harm
Then the voices railed against us, then the path was steep
Now the sounds are softer, now the road is ended
In your arms, I'll sleep

Turn away from madness, burn the inner light
Pray for me as cheerfully as I slip into the night

Take me in my dreams recurring
Cheerful as a childhood dance
Into one more taste of freedom
One more longing backward glance

In the sway of somber music
I shall never, never understand
Let me slip into the sweeter
Chorus of that other land

The gods love Nubia, the beautiful, the golden
The radiant, the fertile, the gentle and the blessed
The pain of Nubia is only of the moment

A few more days and we'll be home in glory
Already they'll be getting out the flags
With Memphis high ??? dormitory
For me, I only see a lot of snags

The prospect above all I find distressful
Is having to give up the soldier's life
If anything I'm rather too successful
They made me hand my sword in for a wife

For just because I've triumphed as a slaver