Lyrics to
L.A.

This version of L.a. was released by Neil Young in 1973.

Our About Neil Young page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for L.a. from 1973 as well as all of the other lyrics from Neil Young that we have in our lyrics database.

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

In a matter of time,
There’ll be a friend of mine
Gonna come to the coast,
You’re gonna see him
Up close for a minute or two
While the ground cracks under you.

By the look in your eyes
You’d think that it was a surprise
But you seem to forget
Something somebody said
About the bubbles in the sea
And an ocean full of trees.

And you now, L.A.
Uptight,
city in the smog,
city in the smog.
Don’t you wish that
you could be here too?
Don’t you wish that
you could be here too?
Don’t you wish that
you could be here too?

Well, it’s hard to believe
So you get up to leave
And you laugh at the door
That you heard it all before
Oh it’s so good to know
That it’s all just a show for you.

But when the suppers are planned
And the freeways are crammed
And the mountains erupt
And the valley is sucked
Into cracks in the earth
Will I finally be heard by you.

L.A.
Uptight,
city in the smog,
city in the smog.
Don’t you wish that
you could be here too?
Don’t you wish that
you could be here too?
Don’t you wish that
you could be here too?

---

Want more lyrics and songs by Neil Young?

Neil Young has released many songs over the years besides L.a.. Neil Young released songs from 1969 to 2007 spanning across albums like Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Neil Young, After The Goldrush, Harvest, Journey Through The Past, Time Fades Away, On The Beach, Tonight's The Night, Zuma, Long May You Run, American Stars & Bars, Comes A Time, Rust Never Sleeps, Hawks And Doves, Re-ac-tor, Trans, Everybody's Rockin', Old Ways, Landing On Water, Life, This Note's For You, Eldorado, Freedom, Ragged Glory, Harvest Moon, Lucky Thirteen, Sleeps With Angels, Mirror Ball, Broken Arrow, Silver & Gold, Prairie Wind, and Chrome Dreams II. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Neil Young.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and L.a. by Neil Young

The lyrics for L.a. are defined as the words making up the song released by Neil Young in 1973. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to L.a. have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Neil Young and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to L.a. by Neil Young if you think through it. 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 L.a." means the words set to the music of L.a., or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Neil Young. 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 L.a. and the lyrics to L.a. are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Neil Young who came here looking just for the lyrics to L.a., but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Neil Young

Visit our Neil Young profile for more Neil Young songs, lyrics & info!

)