Lyrics to
Just A Sinner

This version of Just A Sinner was released by Carly Simon in 1971.

Our About Carly Simon page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Just A Sinner from 1971 as well as all of the other lyrics from Carly Simon that we have in our lyrics database.

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

Today I was gonna conquer the world,
Go on ahead and make a stand.
Today I saw an old friend a dyin’
And as he lay there no one lent a hand,
I’m gonna call you up,
You’ll forsake the one you love,
Though I’ve left you many times before –
You are just a sinner.

I was the one who understands,
You were my one and only man.
I was lost, now I’m the winner.
You stand there waitin’ by the shore,
But I don’t come that way no more,
Because you are just a sinner.

Today I was gonna hold out my hand,
Reach up for that light and let it shine.
Today I have no light to guide me
Feelin’ like the one they left behind,
So I called you up,
You left your love and took me away,
Though I’ve left you many times before-
You are just a sinner.

I am the only one, you see,
You were the only one for me,
I was lost, now I’m the winner.
You’ll keep the candle burning bright,
But I won’t be home tonight,
Because you are just a sinner.

Today I was gonna conquer the world,
Go on ahead and make a stand.
Today I saw an old friend a dyin’,
And as he lay there, no one lent a hand.

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Carly Simon has released many songs over the years besides Just A Sinner. Carly Simon released songs from 1971 to 2008 spanning across albums like Carly Simon, Anticipation, No Secrets, Hotcakes, Playing Possum, Another Passenger, Boys In The Trees, Spy, Come Upstairs, Torch, Hello Big Man, Spoiled Girl, Coming Around Again, Working Girl, Have You Seen Me Lately, My Romance, This Is My Life, Letters Never Sent, Film Noir, The Bedroom Tapes, Piglet's Big Movie, Christmas Is Almost Here Again, Moonlight Serenade, Into White, and This Kind Of Love. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Carly Simon.

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

About Lyrics and Just A Sinner by Carly Simon

The lyrics to Just A Sinner are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Carly Simon used when the song was created in 1971. The lyrics to Just A Sinner have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Carly Simon 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 Just A Sinner by Carly Simon. 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 Just A Sinner" means the words set to the music of Just A Sinner, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Carly Simon. 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 Just A Sinner and the lyrics to Just A Sinner are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Carly Simon who came here looking just for the lyrics to Just A Sinner, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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