Lyrics to
How Long Have You Been There

This version of How Long Have You Been There was released by Willie Nelson in 1970.

Our Decade Lyrics Willie Nelson profile has all of the How Long Have You Been There lyrics from 1970 and many more songs from the Willie Nelson discography that we have on file.

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

I’ve been walking in the shadows for so long that I forgot the sun can shine
I’ve turned away from everone and everything that wanted to be mine
Somehow I always shot my eyes and heart to everything that I could share
Now I’m standing still and I’m wondering just how long have you been there

And every path I’ve taken I have turned around and quickly closed the door
It seems as though I knew if I ever stop to feel I want more
I kept a steady run so my eyes could never focus anywhere
Now I’m standing still and I’m wondering just how long have you been there

How long have you been standing there protecting me from love that shouldn’t be
Knowing all alone that I could realize that you were meant for me

Now I’ve got to mend every broken fence and bridge that I have burned
I’ve got to clear away the cobwebs in my heart so I can start to learn
For I realize that you’ve been waiting just to teach me how to care
Now I’m standing still and I’m wondering just how long have you been there

And now I’m standing still and I’m wondering just how long have you been there

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Willie Nelson has released many songs over the years besides How Long Have You Been There. Willie Nelson released songs from 1962 to 2005 spanning across albums like And Then I Wrote, Here's Willie Nelson, Country Willie - His Own Songs, Country Favorites - Willie Nelson Style, The Party's Over And Other Great Willie Nelson Songs, Make Way For Willie Nelson, Good Times, My Own Peculiar Way, Both Sides Now, Laying My Burdens Down, Yesterday's Wine, Willie Nelson And Family, The Words Don't Fit The Picture, The Willie Way, Shotgun Willie, and Countryman. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Willie Nelson.

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

About Lyrics and How Long Have You Been There by Willie Nelson

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

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