This thread is intended to serve as a forum for corrections and annotations for the Digital Tradition song named in the title of this thread.
Search for other DTStudy threads
I think this song needs some study.
Here are the Digital Tradition lyrics:
PHOEBE SNOW (DT Lyrics)
(Utah Phillips)
I saw her name on the side of a train
Somewhere a long time ago;
I don't know who she was, but I gave my love
To someone called Phoebe Snow
Like a bird on the wing I hear a voice sing
As over the prairies I roll
Well I'd give my life to spend one more night
In the arms of my own Phoebe Snow.
I climbed on board through a wide open door
Just as she started to roll
And I rode so light through the warm summer night
In the arms of my own Phoebe Snow.
Like a bird on the wing I hear a voice sing
As over the prairies I roll
Well I'd give my life to spend one more night
In the arms of my own Phoebe Snow.
(SPOKEN)
I've spent many a night around the fire
In a circle of stone silent men
I've heard the sagebrush whistle and pop
And the coffee boil up in the can.
And the bottoms were filled with the cool river wind;
The treetops chasin' the moon
And I knew without asking to take my guitar
And play up some slow, gentle tune.
Well, I played up a face I used to know,
And the song was the sound of the name
And I knew without looking that every man there
Was each of them feeling the same
Then I played up so hands, so pale and small,
With a touch just as light as the rain
And I knew without looking that every man there
Was each of them feeling the same
Then I played up the booze and the holes in the shoes
Of a man whose life is a cage
And all the things done to make a man run:
The hard luck, the failures of age.
Then I stopped with a crash and we looked into the ash,
Helpless with longing and rage.
Now a travelling life might seem allright;
A life without worry or care;
You're always up and you're always out;
You're always going somewhere
But I tell you, my friend, it's not where you are,
But your reason for being there.
Then I awoke as the day broke
And I gazed out over the plains
Thinking as how I'm better off now
From being in love with a train
Like a bird on the wing I hear a voice sing
As over the prairies I roll
Well I'd give my life to spend one more night
In the arms of my own Phoebe Snow.
Copyright Strike Music
@train @rambling
filename[ PHOEBESN
TUNE FILE: PHOEBESN
CLICK TO PLAY
DS
PHOEBE SNOW (corrections in italics)
(Utah Phillips)
I saw her name on the side of the train
Somewhere a long time ago;
I don't know who she was, but I gave my love
To someone called Phoebe Snow
CHORUS
Like a bird on the wing I hear a voice sing
As over the prairies I roll
But I'd give my life to spend one more night
In the arms of my own Phoebe Snow.
I climbed on board through a wide open door
Just as she started to roll
And I rode so light through the warm summer night
In the arms of my own Phoebe Snow.
CHORUS
Like a bird on the wing I hear a voice sing
As over the prairies I roll
But I'd give my life to spend one more night
In the arms of my own Phoebe Snow.
- [SPOKEN]
I've spent many a night around the fire
In a circle of stone silent men
I've heard the sagebrush whistle and pop
And the coffee boil up in the can.
And the bottoms were filled with the cool river wind;
The treetops chasin' the moon
And I knew without asking to take my guitar
And play up some slow, gentle tune.
Well, I played up a face I used to know,
And the song was the sound of the name
And I knew without looking that every man there
Was each of them feeling the same
Then I played up some hands, so pale and small,
With a touch just as light as the rain
And I knew without looking that every man there
Was each of them feeling the same
Then I played up the booze and the holes in the shoes
Of a man whose life is a cage
And all the things done to make a man run:
The hard luck, the failures of age.
Then I stopped with a crash and we looked into the ash,
Helpless with longing and rage.
Now a travelling life might seem all right;
A life without worry or care;
You're always up and you're always out;
You're always going somewhere
But I tell you, my friend, it's not where you are,
But your reason for being there.
[Sung]
Then I awoke as the day broke
And I gazed out over the plains
Thinking as how I'm better off now
From being in love with a train
CHORUS
Like a bird on the wing I hear a voice sing
As over the prairies I roll
But I'd give my life to spend one more night
In the arms of my own Phoebe Snow.
Corrections in italics, taken from the U. Utah Phillips songbook, Starlight on the Rails And other songs (Dream Garden Press, Salt Lake City, ©2011, by Duncan Phillips. (page 123-126)
Recording from the Good Though album (1974):
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hFk5DfpFhg
Recording from the Starlight on the Rails album (2014):
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT5Xm4SNJ4U