I was born by a river
Rolling past a town
Given no direction
Just told to keep my head down
As I took my position
A man fired a gun
I was so steeped in tradition
That I could not run
I was raised by a river
Weaned upon the sky
And in the mirror of the waters
I saw myself learn to cry
As my tears hit the surface
I saw what had been done
I gave feet to my freedom
And I did run
Someday later
I saw the writing in the dust
It told me how I should travel
It told me who I was
I ran far from the river
Far as I could see
And as the sun hit my shoulders
I felt it burning me
How I longed for the waters
As the fire raged
How I longed for the river
As I aged
I will die by a river
As it rolls away
Bury me in the nighttime
Do not waste the day
High above the waters
That roll on to the sea
All the angels in heaven will laugh at me
They will laugh at me
My life was naught but a river
Rolling through my brain
Made of so many teardrops
Made of so much pain
"The River"
Words and music by Daniel Fogelberg
Copyright 1972 Hickory Grove Music (ASCAP)
"I wrote this on an acid trip at the music school at the University of Illinois. An important transitional song in my life, but again entirely too cynical for one so young. My one and only recorded guitar playing with a wah-wah pedal."-Dan Fogelberg, from the liner notes in Portrait.
Photography by Emerson Loew
Home Free
Released on LP, 8-track and cassette tape
in October 1972 by CBS/Columbia Records
Produced by Norbert Putnam for Full Moon Productions
Certified Platinum
Recorded at Quadraphonic Sound Studios, Nashville, TN
Dan Fogelberg - acoustic and electric guitars, piano, organ, Moog vocals
Norbert Putnam - bass, cello
Kenny (Buffalo) Buttrey - drums, percussion, red & green
Weldon Myrick - pedal steel, dobro
Buddy Spicher - fiddle, viola
Farrell Morris - vibes, percussion
David Briggs - played piano on "More Than Ever" and "Anyway I Love You", and organ on "Long Way Home"
* Strings arranged by Gleen Spreen
** Strings arranged by Bill Purcell
All compositions written by Daniel Fogelberg
Copyright 1972 Hickory Grove Music (ASCAP)
Full Album Lyrics
- To The Morning *
- Stars
- More Than Ever
- Be On Your Way
- Hickory Grove **
- Long Way Home (Live In The Country)
- Looking For A Lady
- Anyway I Love You
- Wysteria *
- The River
To The Morning
Watching the sun
Watching it come
Watching it come up over the rooftops.
Cloudy and warm
Maybe a storm
You can never quite tell
From the morning.
Chorus
And it's going to be a day
There is really no way to say no
To the morning.
Yes it's going to be a day
There is really nothing left to
Say but
Come on morning.
Waiting for mail
Maybe a tail
From an old friend
Or even a lover.
Sometimes there's none
But we have fun
Thinking of all who might
Have written.
And maybe there are seasons
And maybe they change
And maybe to love is not so strange.
The sounds of the day
They hurry away
Now they are gone until tomorrow.
When day will break
And you will wake
And you will rake your hands
Across your eyes
And realize
That it's going to be a day
There is really no way to say no
To the morning.
Yes it's going to be a day
There is really nothing left to say but
Come on morning.
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Stars
Stood out in the rain
Let it soak me down
Before I called you...I called you.
Didn't see me there
Hidden by the rain
Beneath your window...But I saw you.
Putting on your face before the
Mirror on the wall
Dreaming that the looking glass
was me...
Catching your fondest gazes
Living through your fickle phases
I love you.
And it's getting easier each day
To weep about you
Harder every night to sleep without you
How many years must I be driven
By this dream
Of love with you?
Spend my dimes on phones
Trying just to talk but
You don't answer...you let it ring.
Spend my nights alone
Catching falling stars to
Give to you, love,
They're just for you.
For stars fall every time a
lover has to face the truth
And far too many stars have
fell on me.
And as they trail the skies
And burn their paths upon my eyes
I cry.
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More Than
Ever
If there are any words
That we haven't said,
Let us say them.
I know all too well
How people's lies betray them.
More than ever
I'll wait for you there.
More than ever
I will need you to care
And I'll never
Need more than a prayer
To be near you.
To be near you.
Time is a baby child
Found in the rain
Born of fever.
She'll bring you pretty songs
Laced through with lies
But don't you believe her.
More than ever
I'll wait for you there.
More than ever
I will need you to care
And I'll never need
More than a prayer
To be near you.
To be near you.
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Be On Your Way
Be on your way
Don't try to say that
You love me still.
If we couldn't find
The right dream by now
Then we never will.
We paid our dues at the door
And never once saw the stage.
We wrote our share of love's lore
And never quite filled the page.
So be on your way.
Be on your way.
Maybe someday we will
Meet again.
Try not to cry
Tears make me think
How it might have been.
We loved as strong as we could
But love only got in our way.
We took our time to be free
There's nothing much more to say but
Be on your way.
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Hickory Grove
Hickory Grove, wait for me
I'm just as poor as a man can be.
Hickory Grove, wait for me
I'm just as blind as the other men
that see.
Hickory Grove, make the sun
Rise slower I don't have much time.
Hickory Grove, watch me run
Down through the years of my prime.
Lady Luck, play your hand
I've got a life for you to play with
Hickory Grove, you will stand...
I've got a dream that I can stay with.
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Long Way Home
(Live In the Country)
Running in the wrong direction
Isn't it a long way home,
People with the wrong intentions
Isn't it a long way home.
City, you are dying real slow
Country, you are calling me to go.
Smokestacks, I don't need you no more
I'm gonna fly...
To where the sky meets the land
And the living is not planned
And the children can laugh just
Cause they're living.
I'll send for you
If you ever want me to
But you'll have to find
A whole new way of giving.
Running from the noise and poison
Isn't it a long way home.
Wounded by a law man's toy gun
Isn't it a long way home.
City, no more shadows to be seen.
Country, all the sunshine you can dream.
Smokestacks spew your sour-smelling
steam
I'm gonna fly.
To where the sky meets the land
And the living is not planned
And the children can laugh
Just cause they're living.
I'll send for you
If you ever want me to
But you'll have to find
A whole new way of giving.
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Looking For A Lady
Looking for a lady
I'm looking for a lady
To change my night to day
Looking for a lady
I'm looking for a lady
To chase my blues away.
Well, I have a few in mind
But none in particular
I have had them before
But nothing that was for sure.
And I'm in no position to barter
And I'm in no condition to play the
martyr
And I'm sadder certainly
But I'm smarter
And I find myself.
Looking for a lady
I'm looking for a lady
To share my empty bed
Looking for a lady
I'm looking for a lady
To soothe my aching head.
Well, I have a few in mind
But none in particular
I have had them before
But nothing that was for sure.
And my feelings have grown
rigid like a wooden post.
And my love is like a curtain
that has been drawn closed
And my life just isn't going
The way I thought it was supposed to
And I'm crying and I find myself.
Looking for a lady
I'm looking for a lady
To change my night to day.
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Anyway I Love You
Here's another little song for you.
I hope you'll listen to it well.
Means no different than the others do
And it won't change you I can tell.
Anyway, I love you
Everyday I get more sure
Anyway, I love you
More and more and more and more
and more.
I have so much I can offer you
More to please you with than most.
But trying to tie you down is harder
than
Trying to hold on to a ghost.
Chorus
So if you ever feel the need for me
Let it carry you along
Don't be shy and try to hold it down
Cause what you feel just can't be wrong.
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Wysteria
Wysteria, did you change your face
again
Those of us who loved you when
Can't even find you.
Wysteria, did you lose another man
Did you make him understand
That he can't touch you.
Wysteria, did he take you to the fair?
Were the folks that you met there
The same that we met?
Wysteria, did he teach you how
to dance
Did he bring you paper fans
to hide your secret?
Was he just like all the rest
When he got to the sad part
Did he stay a bit too long
To save his heart.
Wysteria, are your lips still lily white
Do they still bloom just
At night and die at sunrise?
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The River
I was born by a river
Rolling past a town
Given no direction
Just told to keep my head down.
As I took my position
A man fired a gun
I was so steeped in tradition
That I could not run.
I was raised by a river
Weaned upon the sky
And in the mirror of the waters
I saw myself learn to cry.
As my tears hit the surface
I saw what had been done.
I gave feet to my freedom
And I did run.
Someday later
I saw the writing in the dust
It told me how I should travel
It told me who I was.
I ran far from the river
Far as I could see
And as the sun hit my shoulders
I felt it burning me.
How I longed for the waters
As the fire raged
How I longed for the river
As I aged.
I will die by a river
As it rolls away
Bury me in the nighttime
Do not waste the day.
High above the waters
That roll on to the sea.
All the angels in heaven will
laugh at me.
They will laugh at me.
My life was naught but a river
Rolling through my brain
Made of so many teardrops
Made of so much pain.
Back to List
Click here to listen to audio samples from this album at Amazon.com.
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