Lyrics to
Gospel Changes

This version of Gospel Changes was released by John Denver in 1971.

Our Decade Lyrics John Denver profile has all of the Gospel Changes lyrics from 1971 and many more songs from the John Denver discography that we have on file.

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

The Prodigal Son, he’d been away a while,
he was working his way back home now over many a ragged mile.
When he finally crossed the river and his father saw him near,
there was a joyful sound, for all the world to hear.

I listened to what the Good Book said and it made good sense to me,
talking about reaping what you’re sowing, people trying to be free.
Now we’ve got new names and faces, this time around,
Gospel changes, Lord, still going down.

Jesus, He did not doubt His gifts, though He knew that He had not long to live.
He took care of the business of teaching us how to fly,
then He bowed His head and laid down to die.

I listened to what the Good Book said and it made good sense to me,
talking about reaping what you’re sowing, people trying to be free.
Now we’ve got new names and faces, this time around,
Gospel changes, Lord, still going down.

Jerusalem I see you standing high,
but if you lose your salvation, there’ll be no tears left to cry.
Now some men worship a Golden Calf while others are bought and sold,
and if we live like that, brother we’ll pay the toll.

I listened to what the Good Book said and it made good sense to me,
talking about reaping what you’re sowing, people trying to be free.
Now we’ve got new names and faces, this time around,
Gospel changes, Lord, still going down.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Gospel changes, Lord, still going down.

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Want more lyrics and songs by John Denver?

John Denver has released many songs over the years besides Gospel Changes. John Denver released songs from 1969 to 1998 spanning across albums like Rhymes And Reasons, Take Me To Tomorrow, Whose Garden Was This?, Poems, Prayers And Promises, Aerie, Rocky Mountain High, Farewell Andromeda, Back Home Again, Rocky Mountain Christmas, An Evening With John Denver, Windsong, Spirit, I Want To Live, A Christmas Together, John Denver, Autograph, Some Days Are Diamonds, Seasons Of The Heart, Rocky Mountain Holiday, It's About Time, Dreamland Express, One World, Higher Ground, The Flower That Shattered The Stone, Christmas, Like A Lullaby, Different Directions, All Aboard!, and Forever, John. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by John Denver.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1971 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Gospel Changes by John Denver

When you decide to study the lyrics to Gospel Changes, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1971 song by John Denver. Some of the lyrics to Gospel Changes have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only John Denver and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Gospel Changes if you take apart the structure of the words. 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 Gospel Changes" means the words set to the music of Gospel Changes, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by John Denver. 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 Gospel Changes and the lyrics to Gospel Changes are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of John Denver who came here looking just for the lyrics to Gospel Changes, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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