I remember Richard Nixon back in ’74, and the final scene at the White House door / And the staff lined up to say goodbye, tiny tear in his shifty little eyes / He said: “Nobody knows me, nobody understands / Little people were good to me, sure I’m gonna shake some hands”

Somebody line ’em up, line ’em all up, line ’em up, line ’em all up / Until they line ’em up, line ’em all up, line ’em up, line ’em all up

At that time my heart was all broke, I looked like ashes and smelled like smoke / And I turned away from my loving kind, try to leave my body and live in my mind / But it’s much too much emotion to hold in your hand / It’s like waves out on the ocean, they wear away the land

I said line ’em up, line ’em all up, line ’em up, line ’em all up / Can’t you line ’em up, line ’em all up, line ’em up, line ’em all up

Oh, I’ve seen corn in Kansas, and I’ve seen picket fences, and certain cowboy dances / I’ve gone lining up for shows, I’ve been safely placed in rows, sure I know how it goes

Another day goes by, little time machine, I’m raking my brain over what it might mean / Just to claim the time, and to turn away to make today today / Who waits for you, lonely tired old toad? / That’s your life laid out before you, like the broken white line down the center of the road

For road line ’em up, line ’em all up, line ’em up, line ’em all up…

Ah, big moon landing, people are standing up / Smiles for the loved one, we go walking on down the aisles / Each re-engages stepping into the sun / I watch them turn like pages one by one by one

Somebody line ’em up, line ’em all up, line ’em up, line ’em all up…

[By James Taylor © Cbs Records, 1997]