Music by elton john Lyrics by bernie taupin Released as a uk b-side in august, 1974 Your life stepped lightly out our hands When no one's looking out you understand Your world was a wheel but the cog ceased to turn The bottom fell out and our fingers got burned And there's a cold, cold highway that the wind whistles down Where the corners turn blind like the graveyard ground Oh your black icy snare once cut down my friend In the deepest dark winter when the world seemed to end Every new version of the way of life Leaves you reckless and searching for stars in the night But whose kid are you when they finally decide The lifestyle you led and the way that you died But they're oh so simple, they're still trying to tell The difference for you between heaven and hell To glorify something, your legends are found But all they bought you was a hole in the ground Years rolling by just like a dream I'm partly human and I'm partly machine They've lost you and fate put your name on a stone Perhaps now my friend they might leave you alone