I was just going through some John Denver songs, and find this one very interesting. It was composed by John Williams, the conductor of Boston Pops Orchestra, with words by Marilyn and Alan Bergman. As sung by John Denver at the July 4th Celebration in 1986.


AMERICA, THE DREAM GOES ON
(John Williams, Marilyn Bergman, Alan Bergman)

A-[E]merica, America, and the [G]dream [D/F#]goes [E]on!
A-[E]merica, America, and the [G]dream [D/F#]goes [E]on!

There's a [E]song in the dust of a country road
On the [A]wind it comes to call,
And it [E]sings in the farms and the factory towns
And [A]where you think there'd be no song at [E]all.

And the [A]words are the words that our fathers heard
As they [G]whistled down the years,
And the [G]name of the song is the name of the dream,
And it's [F]music to our ears.

America, America, and the dream goes on!
America, America, and the dream goes on!

And the words that we read on the courthouse walls
Are the words that make us free.
And the more we remember where we began,
The closer we get to the best we can be.

Was there ever a time we forgot it's worth,
All the struggles and the scars?
If we leave to the children a sky full of hope
And a flag that's filled with stars.

America, America, and the dream goes on!

Re-[G]member the voice of Jefferson
And the [D#m]sound of Thomas Paine,
Lincoln [F]sang at Gettysberg about A-[Em]merica.
Listen [F]well to the wind and you can hear,
From [E]Oregon to Maine,
"A-[A]merica, A-[G#]merica!" [E]

There's a song in the dust of a country road
On the wind it comes to call,
And it sings in the farms and the factory towns
And where you think there'd be no song at all.

And the words are the words that our fathers heard
As they whistled down the years,
And the name of the song is the name of the dream,
And it's music to our ears.

America, America, and the dream goes on!

Think of [B]Roosevelt and Kennedy
And of [Gm]Martin Luther King,
And the [A]way they sang a song about A-[G#m]merica.
Listen [A]well to the wind, it's always there,
And it's [G#]asking us to sing,
"A-[C#]merica, A-[C]merica!" [F#]

Though the [F#]voices are changing, the song's the same
As it [B]sings from sea to sea.
And as [F#]long as the music is strong and clear,
We'll [B]know that tomorrow will always be [F#]free.

A-[F#]merica, and the [A]dream [E]goes [F#]on!
A-[F#]merica, and the [A]dream [E]goes [F#]on!
A-[F#]merica, America, America, America!
And the [A]dream [E]goes [F#]on!


I find the song interesting mainly because of its very unusual chords progression. Can anybody explain these chords? Seems that classically trained composers can always write things that seem unusual.