Lyrics to
Lighthouse

This version of Lighthouse was released by James Taylor in 1975.

Our About James Taylor page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Lighthouse from 1975 as well as all of the other lyrics from James Taylor that we have in our lyrics database.

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

Off the coast of Africa, bound for South America, a world away from here
is a ship that sails the sea, is a man who’s just like me and I wish that I was there.

I’m a lonely lighthouse, not a ship out in the night. I’m watching the sea.
She’s come halfway round the world to see the light and to stay away from me.
There is a shipwreck lying at my feet, some weary refugee from the rolling deep.
Ah, could you lose it all and fall for me?

Couldn’t we shine? I’m rolling all my golden moments into one.
Like to shine like the sun for one more summer day.
Like to shine like a lighthouse for one last summer night,
flashing on, flashing, fading away.

Well if you feel lost and lonely and don’t know where to go
and you hear this song on the radio,
or even if you’re feeling healthy and strong, you might like to sing along.
But just because I might be standing here, that don’t mean I won’t be wrong this time.
You could follow me and lose your mind.

Couldn’t we shine? Rolling all my golden moments into one.
Like to shine like the sun for one more summer day.
Like to shine like a lighthouse for one last summer night,
flashing on, flashing, fading away.

Off the coast of Africa, bound for South America, a world away from here
is a ship that sails the sea, is a man who’s just like me and I wish that I was there.

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James Taylor has released many songs over the years besides Lighthouse. James Taylor released songs from 1968 to 2002 spanning across albums like James Taylor, Sweet Baby James, Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon, One Man Dog, Walking Man, Gorilla, In The Pocket, JT, Flag, Dad Loves His Work, That's Why I'm Here, Never Die Young, New Moon Shine, Hourglass, and October Road. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by James Taylor.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1975 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Lighthouse by James Taylor

The lyrics to Lighthouse are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that James Taylor used when the song was created in 1975. The lyrics to Lighthouse have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only James Taylor 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 Lighthouse by James Taylor. 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 Lighthouse" means the words set to the music of Lighthouse, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by James Taylor. 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 Lighthouse and the lyrics to Lighthouse are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of James Taylor who came here looking just for the lyrics to Lighthouse, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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