Lyrics to
Johnny Raven

This version of Johnny Raven was released by Michael Jackson in 1973.

Our Michael Jackson Songs profile has Johnny Raven lyrics from 1973 and most if not all of the lyrics by Michael Jackson that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

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

Free and untamed that’s how I’ve grown
(It’s Johnny Raven)
Settling down ain’t my nature
Roots I’ll never own
(It’s Johnny Raven)
Oh your smile
But tell me, ain’t your child
How can you cage a bird
Born to be wild

Refrain
I’m Johnny Raven
(He’s Johnny Raven)
by and by (By and By)
Oh, I’m going to leave your nest girl
Another nest to try
Ooh Johnny Raven
Girl you know I shouldn’t have loved you
Yeah, but I gotta leave you
When my restless heart says goodbye

Look at you little girl
You feel love so deep
(It’s Johnny Raven)
If I could change in a second
I’d change for you like that
Stay right here for keeps
(It’s Johnny Raven)
But I’m home free for no thrills
Stray I will
Seems I gotta need one girl
Never can feel

Refrain
Yeah I’m Johnny Raven
(It’s Johnny Raven)
by and by
Oh, I’m going to leave yoour nest girl
Another nest to try
Ooh Johnny Raven
Girl you know I shouldn’t have loved you
Yeah, but I gotta leave you
When my restless heart says goodbye

Everybody knows my name
I’m Johnny Raven
(It’s Johnny Raven)
yeah, yeah by abd by
(It’s Johnny Raven)
I’m gonna fly
When you cry part of me’s gonna die

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Michael Jackson has released many songs over the years besides Johnny Raven. Michael Jackson released songs from 1972 to 2004 spanning across albums like Got To Be There, Ben, Music & Me, Forever, Michael, Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad, Dangerous, HIStory - Past, Present And Future - Book 1, Blood On The Dance Floor - HIStory In The Mix, Invincible, and The Ultimate Collection. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Michael Jackson.

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About Lyrics and Johnny Raven by Michael Jackson

When you decide to study the lyrics to Johnny Raven, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1973 song by Michael Jackson. Some of the lyrics to Johnny Raven have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Michael Jackson and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

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

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