Lyrics to
Hitchhiker

This version of Hitchhiker was released by John Denver in 1976.

Our Decade Lyrics John Denver profile has all of the Hitchhiker lyrics from 1976 and many more songs from the John Denver discography that we have on file.

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If you’re riding down the road and you come across an old man
holding out his thumb in the wind.
Clothes are old and dirty, that doesn’t matter, it’s his eyes that tell you where he’s been.
If you’re not afraid to take your chances on a stranger, he might have some company to lend.
Pull off to the side, let the old man have a ride. He’ll tell you all the crazy things he’s seen.
I’m an old hitchhiker, highway is the only home I know.
Where you headed, I don’t mind. I ain’t been there in some time,
but it’s just exactly where I wanna go.

I can tell you how I started in the circus as a barker calling people in from far and wide.
They never did regret the dollar that it cost them, we always left ’em feeling good inside.
We were headed for Montana when we hired us a dancer, her beauty it was more than I can say.
Then one summer night she set my soul on fire, Lord, I wish that she was here with me today.
I’m an old hitchhiker, wonder what’s awaiting round the bend.
I don’t know what I might see, I don’t need no guarantee,
just a ride from here to there and back again.

I was only seventeen when I took the open highway, took it for my teacher and a friend.
I’ve been thirty years of thumbing, some might call it bumming,
it’s better than just crying in the wind.
If you’re driving down the road and you come across an old man,
holding out his thumb in the rain.
You can pull off to the side, let the poor boy have a ride,
he can tell you all the crazy things he’s seen.
I’m an old hitchhiker, looking to the far side of the hill.
Some people say I’ll settle down, build a home in some small town.
But in my heart I know I never will, I’m an old hitchhiker.

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John Denver has released many songs over the years besides Hitchhiker. 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.

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About Lyrics and Hitchhiker by John Denver

The lyrics for Hitchhiker are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1976 song by John Denver. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to Hitchhiker have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for Hitchhiker - John Denver and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to Hitchhiker by John Denver in multiple ways. 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 Hitchhiker" means the words set to the music of Hitchhiker, 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 Hitchhiker and the lyrics to Hitchhiker 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 Hitchhiker, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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