BOULDER TO BIRMINGHAM

Emmylou Harris and Bill Danoff (1975)

I don't want to hear a love song/ I got on this airplane just to fly/ And I know there's life below me but/ All that it can show me is the prairie and the sky/ And I don't want to hear a sad story/ Full of heartbreak and desire/ The last time I felt like this/ I was in the wilderness and the canyon was on fire/ And I stood on the mountain/ In the night and I watched it burn/ I watched it burn/ I watched it burn.

I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham/ I would hold my life in his saving grace/ I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham/ If I thought I could see/ I could see your face.

Well, you really got me this time/ And the hardest part is knowing I'll survive/ I've come to listen for the sound of/ The trucks as they move down out on ninety-five/ And pretend that it's the ocean/ Coming down to wash me clean/ To wash me clean/ Baby do you know what I mean?

I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham/ I would hold my life in his saving grace/ I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham/ If I thought I could see/ I could see your face.

I know Emmylou has recorded it, because I have a tape of her singing it in 1986 at the Prairie Home Summer concert in St Paul, but I cannot track down the album(s) it is on the 3 CD "Portraits" collection. The song has also been recorde by (....long pause....) The Starland Vocal Band on their self-titled album (Windsong BHLI-1351). Yes that's the "Afternoon Delight" folks. Actually the leader of the band was Bill Danoff, the above mentioned co-author of the song. I'm not sure Joan Baez ever did it, although she did record a song called "Birmingham Sunday".

Sky rockets in flight!

rich r