Lyrics to
Cloud Nine

This version of Cloud Nine was released by Marvin Gaye in 1970.

Our Decade Lyrics Marvin Gaye profile has all of the Cloud Nine lyrics from 1970 and many more songs from the Marvin Gaye discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Marvin Gaye or about the 1970s in general.

The childhood part of my life wasn’t very pretty
You see, I was born and raised in the slums of the city
It was a one-room shack we slept in, the children beside me
We hardly had enough food or rooms
It was a hard time
Needed somethin’ to ease my troubled mind.

Ooooh listen
Father didn’t know the meaning of work
He disrespected Mama and treated her slightly
I left home seekin’ a job that I never did find
The first thing, downhearted, I took to Cloud 9

I’m doin’ fine up here on Cloud 9
Listen, one more time
I’m doin’ fine up here on Cloud 9

Folks now tell me
They say, “Give yourself a chance
And don’t let life pass you by.”
But the world around you is a rat race
Where only the strong survive
It’s a dog-eat-dog world and that ain’t no lie
It ain’t even safe no more
To walk the streets at night

I’m doin’ fine on Cloud 9
Let me tell you about Cloud 9
(Cloud 9) You can be what you wanna be
(Cloud 9) You ain’t got no responsibility
(Cloud 9) Yeah, every man, every man is free
(Cloud 9) You’re a million miles from reality
(Reality) I wanna say (up) higher (up up and away)
Cloud 9

I wanna say I love the life I live
And I’m gonna live the life I love
Up here on Cloud 9
Uh uh uh uh, I’m ridin’ high on Cloud 9

You’re as free as a bird in flight
(Cloud 9) There’s no diff’rence ‘tween day and night
(Cloud 9) It’s a world of love and harmony
(Cloud 9) You’re a million miles from reality
(Reality) I wanna say (up) higher (up up and away)

(Cloud 9) You can be what you wanna be
(Cloud 9) You ain’t got no responsibility
(Cloud 9) Every man in his mind is free
(Cloud 9) You’re a million miles from reality
(Cloud 9) You can be what you wanna be…

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Marvin Gaye has released many songs over the years besides Cloud Nine. Marvin Gaye released songs from 1961 to 1985 spanning across albums like The Soulful Moods Of Marvin Gaye, That Stubborn Kinda Fella, Together, How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You, Moods Of Marvin Gaye, Take Two, United, You're All I Need, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Easy, M.P.G., That's The Way Love Is, What's Going On, Trouble Man, Let's Get It On, Diana & Marvin, I Want You, Here, My Dear, Midnight Love, Romantically Yours, and Dream Of A Lifetime. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Marvin Gaye.

If you're a fan of lyrics from 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1970 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Cloud Nine by Marvin Gaye

The lyrics to Cloud Nine are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Marvin Gaye used when the song was created in 1970. The lyrics to Cloud Nine have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Marvin Gaye 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 Cloud Nine by Marvin Gaye. 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 Cloud Nine" means the words set to the music of Cloud Nine, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Marvin Gaye. 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 Cloud Nine and the lyrics to Cloud Nine are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Marvin Gaye who came here looking just for the lyrics to Cloud Nine, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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