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©1986

billy joel and cyndi lauper's original appears on billy joel's album "The Bridge".

midi file
billy joel home page

Verse 1
Everybody's got a million questions, everybody wants to know the score
What you've been through, it's something you should be over now
Everybody wants to hear the secrets that you never told a soul before
And it's not that strange because it wouldn't change what happened anyhow

But you swore to yourself a long time ago
There were some things that people never needed to know
This is one that you keep, that you bury so deep no one can tear it out

Chorus
And you can't talk about it because you're following a code of silence
You're never gonna lose the anger, you just deal with it a different way
And you can't talk about it and isn't that a kind of madness
To be living by a code of silence when you've really got a lot to say.

Verse 2
You don't want to lose a friendship there's nothing that you have to hide
And a little dirt couldn't hurt no one anyway
And you still have a rage inside you that you carry with a certain pride
In the only part of a broken heart that you could ever save

But you've been through it once, you know how it ends
You don't see the point of going through it again
And this ain't the place, and this ain't the time and neither's any other day

Chorus
So you can't talk about it because you're following a code of silence
You're never gonna lose the anger, you just deal with it a different way
So you can't talk about it and isn't that a kind of madness
To be living by a code of silence when you've really got a lot to say.

Bridge
I know you well enough to tell you've got your reasons
That's not the kind of code you're inclined to break
Some things unknown are best left alone forever
And if a vow is what it takes haven't you paid for your mistakes

Verse 3
After the moment passes and the impulse disappears
You can still hold back because you don't crack very easily
It's a time honoured resolution because the danger is always near
But that ain't how it was supposed to be

And it's hard to believe after all these years 
That it still gives you pain and it still brings tears
And you feel like a fool, Because in spite of your rules you've got a memory

Chorus
But you can't talk about it because you're following a code of silence
You're never gonna lose the anger, you just deal with it a different way
But you can't talk about it and isn't that a kind of madness
To be living by a code of silence when you've really got a lot to say.