Lyrics to
I Thought I Was A Child

This version of I Thought I Was A Child was released by Jackson Browne in 1973.

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It’s such a clever innocence with which you do your sorcery
As if somehow the years just bow and let that young girl go free
I thought I was a child until you turned and smiled
I thought I knew where I was going until I heard your laughter flowing
And came upon the wisdom in your eyes
Surprise!

I’ve spent my whole life running ’round
Chasing songs from town to town
Thinking I’d be free so long as I never let love slow me down
So lonely and so wild until you turned and smiled
By now I should have long been gone
But here I am still looking on
As if I didn’t know which way to run

It’s such a clever innocence with which you show myself to me
As if you know how it feels to never be who you wanted to be
I thought I was a child until you turned and smiled
I thought that I was free but I’m just one more prisoner of time
Alone within the boundaries of my mind
I thought I was a child

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Jackson Browne has released many songs over the years besides I Thought I Was A Child. Jackson Browne released songs from 1967 to 2002 spanning across albums like The Nina Music Demo (Songs By Jackson Browne), Jackson Browne, For Everyman, Late For The Sky, The Pretender, Running On Empty, Hold Out, Lawyers In Love, Lives In The Balance, World In Motion, I'm Alive, Looking East, and The Naked Ride Home. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Jackson Browne.

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About Lyrics and I Thought I Was A Child by Jackson Browne

The lyrics for I Thought I Was A Child are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1973 song by Jackson Browne. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to I Thought I Was A Child 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 I Thought I Was A Child - Jackson Browne 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 I Thought I Was A Child by Jackson Browne 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 I Thought I Was A Child" means the words set to the music of I Thought I Was A Child, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Jackson Browne. 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 I Thought I Was A Child and the lyrics to I Thought I Was A Child are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Jackson Browne who came here looking just for the lyrics to I Thought I Was A Child, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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