John Denver Album

There's a storm across the valley
Clouds are rolling in
The afternoon lies heavy
On your shoulders
There's a truck out on the four lane
A mile or more away
And the whining of his wheels
Just makes it colder

He's an hour away from riding
On his prayers up in the sky
And ten days on the road
Are barely gone
Like a fire softly burning
Supper's on the stove
It's the light in your eyes
That keeps him warm

Chorus

Hey it's good to be back home again
Sometimes this old farm
Feels like a long lost friend
Yes, and hey it's good to be back home again

There's all the news to tell him
How you've spent your time
And what's the latest thing the neighbors say
And your mother called last Friday
Sunshine made her cry
And you felt the baby move just yesterday

(Repeat chorus then)
(Bridge)

And all the time that I can lay this tired old body down
To feel your fingers feather soft upon me
The kisses that I live for
The love that lights my way
The happiness that living with you brings me

It's the sweetest thing i know of
Just spending time with you
It's the little things that make a house a home
Like a fire softly burning, supper's on the stove
And it's the light in your eyes that makes me warm

(Repeat chorus then)
(Tag)
I said hey it's good to be back home again...

This song was first released on the Back Home Again album. It is the only album it has been released on.

Back in 1958 we drove an old V8 and when it'd gone a hundred thou' we got out and pushed it a mile

We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did
We were just on the road

Headin' down from Canada on a gravel road a mile from Montana
Then my Daddy read a sign and took us in the wrong direction
I asked my Daddy where are we goin', he said we'll just follow
Our nose, so I looked out the window and dreamed I was a cowboy

We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did
We were just on the road

I met a girl in a truck cafe, fell in love almost right away
Then the Mercury was ready to go and I had to leave her

Shoo-be-doo-be-doo-Sh-doo
Shoo-be-doo-be-doo-Sh-doo-Sh-doo

Go home said the man in the moon go home
Go home said the man in the moon go home

Because it's gettin'sorta late and I'll soon turn out my light
Go home said the man in the moon
Go home

We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did
We were just on the road

We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did
We were just a ridin' on
We were just a ridin' on the road

Words and Music by Carl Franzen

When I was a little bitty boy, just up off a floor
We used to go down to grandma's house, ev'ry month end or so
We'd have chicken pies and country ham 'n' home made butter on the bread
But the best darn thing about Grandma's house was her great big feather bed

It was nine feet high and six feet wide, soft as a downy chick
It was made from the feathers of forty 'leven geese, took a whole bolt of cloth for the tick
It'd hold eight kids 'n' four hound dogs and a piggy we stole from the shed
We didn't get much sleep but we had a lot of fun on grandma's feather bed

After supper we'd sit around the fire, the old folks'd spit and chew
Pa would talk about the farm and the war, and granny'd sing a ballad or two
I'd sit and listen and watch the fire, till the cobwebs filled my head
Next thing I'd know I'd wake up in the morn in the middle of the old feather bed

It was nine feet high and six feet wide, soft as a downy chick
It was made from the feathers of forty 'leven geese, took a whole bolt of cloth for the tick
It'd hold eight kids 'n' four hound dogs and a piggy we stole from the shed
We didn't get much sleep but we had a lot of fun on grandma's feather bed

Well I love my ma, I love my pa, I love granny and grandpa too
I've been fishin' with my uncle, I rassled with my cousin, I even kissed Aunt Lou, eww!
But if I ever had to make a choice, I guess it ought to be said
That I'd trade 'em all plus the gal down the road for grandma's feather bed
I'd trade 'em all plus the gal down the road…
Well, maybe I'd better reconsider about the gal down the road

It was nine feet high and six feet wide, soft as a downy chick
It was made from the feathers of forty 'leven geese, took a whole bolt of cloth for the tick
It'd hold eight kids 'n' four hound dogs and a piggy we stole from the shed
We didn't get much sleep but we had a lot of fun on grandma's feather bed
We didn't get much sleep but we had a lot of fun on grandma's feather bed

Had an uncle named Matthew
Was his father's only boy
Born just south of Colby, Kansas
Was his mother's pride and joy

Yes, and joy was just the thing that he was raised on
Love was just the way to live and die
Gold was just a windy Kansas wheatfield
Blue, just a Kansas summer sky

All the stories that he told me
Back when I was just a lad
All the memories that he gave me
All the good times that he had

Growin' up a Kansas farmboy
Life was mostly havin' fun
Ridin' on his daddy's shoulders
Behind a view beneath the sun

Yes, and joy was just the thing that he was raised on
Love was just the way to live and die
Gold was just a windy Kansas wheatfield
Blue is just a Kansas summer sky

Well, I guess there were some hard times
And I'm told some years were lean
They had a storm in forty-seven
A twister came and stripped them clean

He lost the farm and lost his family
He lost the wheat and lost his home
But he found a family Bible
Faith as solid as a stone

Yes, and joy was just the thing that he was raised on
Love was just the way to live and die
Gold was just a windy Kansas wheatfield
Blue, just a Kansas summer sky

So he came to live at our house
And he came to work the land
He came to ease my daddy's burden
And he came to be my friend

So, I wrote this down for Matthew
And it's for him the song is sung
Ridin' on his daddy's shoulders
Behind a mule beneath the sun

Yes, and joy was just the thing that he was raised on
Love was just the way to live and die
Gold was just a windy Kansas wheatfield
Blue, just a Kansas summer sky

Yes, and joy was just the thing that he was raised on
Love was just the way to live and die
Gold was just a windy Kansas wheatfield
Blue, just a Kansas summer sky


Words and music by John Denver

Well, life on the farm is kinda laid back
Ain't much an old country boy like me can't hack
It's early to rise and early in the sack
Thank God I'm a country boy

Well, a simple kind of life never did me no harm
Raisin' me a family and workin' on the farm
My days are all filled with an easy country charm
Thank God I'm a country boy

Well, I got me a fine wife, I got my old fiddle
When the sun's comin' up, I got cakes on the griddle
Life ain't nothin' but a funny, funny riddle
Thank God I'm a country boy

When the work's all done and the sun is settin' low
I pull out my fiddle and I rosin up the bow
But the kids are asleep so I keep it kinda low
Thank God I'm a country boy

I'd play "Sally Goodin" all day if I could
But the Lord and my wife wouldn't take it very good
So I fiddle when I can and I work when I should
Thank God I'm a country boy

Well, I got me a fine wife, I got my old fiddle
When the sun's comin' up, I got cakes on the griddle
Life ain't nothin' but a funny, funny riddle
Thank God I'm a country boy

Well, I wouldn't trade my life for diamonds or jewels
I never was one of them money hungry fools
I'd rather have my fiddle and my farmin' tools
Thank God I'm a country boy

Yeah, city folks drivin' in a black limousine
A lotta sad people think that's mighty keen
Son, let me tell you exactly what I mean
Thank God I'm a country boy

Well, I got me a fine wife, I got my old fiddle
When the sun's comin' up, I got cakes on the griddle
Life ain't nothin' but a funny, funny riddle
Thank God I'm a country boy

Well, my fiddle was my daddy's 'til the day he died
And he took me by the hand and held me close to his side
He said, "Live a good life, play my fiddle with pride
And thank God you're a country boy"

My daddy taught me young how to hunt and how to whittle
He taught me how to work and play a tune on the fiddle
He taught me how to love and how to give just a little
Thank God I'm a country boy

Well, I got me a fine wife, I got my old fiddle
When the sun's comin' up, I got cakes on the griddle
Life ain't nothin' but a funny, funny riddle
Thank God I'm a country boy

This song appears on two albums, and was first released on the Back Home Again Album, and has also been released as a live version on the An Evening With John Denver Album.


Music makes pictures and often tells stories
All of it magic and all of it true
And all of the pictures and all of the stories
All of the magic, the music is you

Music makes pictures and often tells stories
All of it magic and all of it true
And all of the pictures and all of the stories
And all of the magic, the music is you

Words and music by John Denver

You fill up my senses
Like a night in the forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

Come let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you
Come let me love you
Come love me again

Let me give my life to you
Come let me love you
Come love me again

You fill up my senses
Like a night in the forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

You can do whatever you want to do wherever you want to go it's up to you
And wouldn't it be fine following your heart playing your own part
You and me out on a farm let the sun be our alarm
Kicking off our shoes doing what we choose
And wouldn't it be fine knowing that you're mine anytime you want to be

I don't want to own you I just want to hold you
I just want to need you
I just like to see you smile and stay for awhile

If the times get rough bein' free might be enough
Keep our feelings warm see us through the storm
Wouldn't it be fine looking back and knowing that we helped each other find
You can do whatever you want to do wherever you want to go it's up to you
And wouldn't it be fine following your heart playing your own part
It's up to you it's up to you

This song was first released on the Back Home Again album. It is the only album it has been released on.

Saturday's, holidays, easy afternoon
Lazy days, summer days, nothing much to do
Rainy days are better days, for hanging out inside
Rainy days and city ways make me want to hide
Someplace cool and green and shady.

Find yourself a piece of grassy ground
Lay down, close your eyes
Find yourself and maybe lose yourself
While your free spirit flies
(musical interlude)

August skies, lullabys, promises to keep
Dandelions and twisting vines, Clover at your feet
Memories of Aspen leaves, trembling on the wind
Honeybees and fantasies
Where to start again
Someplace cool and green and shady

Cool and green and shady
Cool and green and shady
Cool and green and shady
Cool and green and shady

Words and music by John Denver and Joe Henry

The sun is slowly fadin' in the western sky
Sometimes it takes forever for the day to end
Sometimes it takes a lifetime
Sometimes I think I'll never see the sun again

There's a heavy smog between me and my mountains
It's enough to make a grown man sit and cry
It's enough to make you wonder
It's enough to make the world roll up and die

I think it's kind of interesting the way things get to be
The way that people work with their machines
Serenity's a long time comin' to me
The fact I don't believe I know what it means

In the east a shaded moon is hangin' lazily
I do believe I saw the old man smile
I do believe I did
I do believe he's been laughin' all the while

I think it's kind of interesting the way things get to be
The way that people work with their machines
Serenity's a long time comin' to me
The fact I don't believe I know what it means any more

When the sun is slowly fadin' in the western sky
Sometimes it takes forever the day to end
Sometimes it takes a lifetime
Sometimes I think I'll never see the sun again
Sun again

Lost and alone on some forgotten highway
Travelled by many remembered by few
Lookin' for something that I can believe in
Lookin' for something that I'd like to do with my life

There's nothin' behind me and nothin' that ties me
To somethin' that might have been true yesterday
Tomorrow is open and right now it seems to be more
Than enough to just be here today

And I don't know what the future is holdin' in store
I don't know where I'm goin', I'm not sure where I've been
There's a spirit that guides me, a light that shines for me
My life is worth the livin', I don't need to see the end

Sweet, sweet surrender
Live, live without care
Like a fish in the water
Like a bird in the air

Sweet, sweet surrender
Live, live without care
Like a fish in the water
Like a bird in the air

Lost and alone on some forgotten highway
Travelled by many remembered by few
Lookin' for something that I can believe in
Lookin' for something that I'd like to do with my life

There's nothin' behind me and nothin' that ties me
To somethin' that might have been true yesterday
Tomorrow is open and right now it seems to be more
Than enough to just be here today

And I don't know what the future is holdin' in store
I don't know where I'm goin', I'm not sure where I've been
There's a spirit that guides me, a light that shines for me
My life is worth the livin', I don't need to see the end

Sweet, sweet surrender
Live, live without care
Like a fish in the water
Like a bird in the air

Sweet, sweet surrender
Live, live without care
Like a fish in the water
Like a bird in the air

Sweet, sweet surrender
Live, live without care
Like a fish in the water
Like a bird in the air

Sweet, sweet surrender
Live, live without care
Like a fish in the water
Like a bird in the air

This old guitar taught me to sing a lovesong,
showed me how to laugh and how to cry,
introduced me to some friends of mine,
and brightened up some days,
it helped me make it through some lonely nights,
oh, what a friend to have on a cold lonely night.

This old guitar gave me my lovely lady,
it opened up her eyes and ears to me,
it brought us close together,
I guess it broke her heart,
but it opened up the space for us to be,
what a lovely place, a lovely space to be.

This old guitar gave me my life my living,
and all the things I know I love to do,
to serenade the stars that shine
from a sunny mountain side,
most of all to sing my songs for you,
ooh, I love to sing my songs for you,
yes I do,Lord, I love to sing my songs for you.