Lyrics to
4+20

This version of 4+20 was released by Stills, Nash & Young Crosby in 1970.

Our About Stills, Nash & Young Crosby page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for 4+20 from 1970 as well as all of the other lyrics from Stills, Nash & Young Crosby that we have in our lyrics database.

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Four and twenty years ago, I come into this life,
The son of a woman and a man who lived in strife.
He was tired of being poor and he wasn’t into selling door to door
And he worked like the devil to be more.

A different kind of poverty now upsets me so.
Night after sleepless night, I walk the floor and I want to know- why am I so alone?
Where is my woman can I bring her home? Have I driven her away? Is she gone?

Morning comes to sunrise and I’m driven to my bed.
I see that it is empty and there’s devils in my head.
I embrace the many colored beast. I grow weary of the torment, can there be no peace?
And I find myself just wishing that my life would simply cease.

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Stills, Nash & Young Crosby has released many songs over the years besides 4+20. Stills, Nash & Young Crosby released songs from 1970 to 1999 spanning across albums like Deja Vu, 4 Way Street, American Dream, and Looking Forward. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Stills, Nash & Young Crosby.

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About Lyrics and 4+20 by Stills, Nash & Young Crosby

The lyrics to 4+20 are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Stills, Nash & Young Crosby used when the song was created in 1970. The lyrics to 4+20 have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Stills, Nash & Young Crosby and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to 4+20 by Stills, Nash & Young Crosby. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to 4+20" means the words set to the music of 4+20, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Stills, Nash & Young Crosby. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to 4+20 and the lyrics to 4+20 are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Stills, Nash & Young Crosby who came here looking just for the lyrics to 4+20, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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