Lyrics to
Melissa

This version of Melissa was released by The Allman Brothers Band in 1972.

Our About The Allman Brothers Band page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Melissa from 1972 as well as all of the other lyrics from The Allman Brothers Band that we have in our lyrics database.

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Crossroads, seem to come and go, yeah.
The gypsy flies from coast to coast

Knowing many, loving none,
Bearing sorrow havin’ fun,
But back home he’ll always run
To sweet Melissa… mmm…

Freight train, each car looks the same, all the same.
And no one knows the Gypsy’s name

No one hears his lonely sighs,
There are no blankets where he lies.
In all his deepest dreams the Gypsy flies
with sweet Melissa… mmm…

Again the morning’s come,
Again he’s on the run,
Sunbeams shining through his hair,
Appearing not to have a care.
Well, pick up your gear and Gypsy roll on, roll on.

Crossroads, will you ever let him go? (Lord, Lord)
Will you hide the dead man’s ghost,
Or will he lie, beneath the clay,
or will his spirit float away?

But I know that he won’t stay without Melissa.

Yes I know that he won’t stay without Melissa.

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The Allman Brothers Band has released many songs over the years besides Melissa. The Allman Brothers Band released songs from 1969 to 2003 spanning across albums like The Allman Brothers Band, Idlewild South, At Fillmore East, Eat A Peach, Brothers And Sisters, Win, Lose Or Draw, Enlightened Rogues, Reach For The Sky, Brothers Of The Road, Seven Turns, Shades Of Two Worlds, Where It All Begins, and Hittin' The Note. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Allman Brothers Band.

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About Lyrics and Melissa by The Allman Brothers Band

The lyrics to Melissa are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that The Allman Brothers Band used when the song was created in 1972. The lyrics to Melissa have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only The Allman Brothers Band 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 Melissa by The Allman Brothers Band. 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 Melissa" means the words set to the music of Melissa, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Allman Brothers Band. 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 Melissa and the lyrics to Melissa are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Allman Brothers Band who came here looking just for the lyrics to Melissa, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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