(Intro)

(Verse)

It’s like when your making conversation
And your trying not to scream
And your trying not to tell them
But you don’t care what they mean
And your really feeling fragile
And you really can’t get home
And you really feel abandoned
But ya wanna be alone

(Chorus)

Old friends, they shine like diamonds
Old friends, you can always call
Old friends, Lord, you can’t buy’em
Ya know, it’s old friends after all

(Verse)

And when the house is empty
And the light begins to fade
And there’s nothin’ to protect you
Except the window shade
It’s hard to put your finger
On the thing that scares ya most
And ya can’t tell the difference
Between an angel and a ghost

(Chorus) x2

Old friends, they shine like diamonds
Old friends, you can always call
Old friends, Lord, you can’t buy’em
Ya know, it’s old friends after all

Capo 2

Oh Ellis Island was swarming
Like a scene from a costume ball
Decked out in the colors of Europe
And on fire with the hope of it all
There my father’s own father stood huddled
With the tired and hungry and scared
Turn of the century pilgrims
Bound by the dream that they shared

They were standing in lines just like cattle
Poked and sorted and shoved
Some were one desk away from sweet freedom
Some were torn from someone they loved
Through this sprawling tower of babel
Came a young man confused and alone
Determined and bound for America
And carryin’ everything that he owned

— CHORUS —

Sometimes when I look in my grandfathers immigrant eyes
I see that day reflected and I can’t hold my feelings inside
I see starting with nothing and working hard all of his life
So don’t take it for granted say grandfather’s immigrant eyes

Now he rocks and he stares out the window
But his eyes are still just as clear
As the day he sailed through the harbor
And come ashore on the island of tears
My grandfather’s days are numbered
But I won’t let his memory die
‘Cause he gave me the gift of sweet freedom
And the look in his Immigrant Eyes

— CHORUS —