Lyrics to
Old Folks

This version of Old Folks was released by John Denver in 1970.

Our About John Denver page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Old Folks from 1970 as well as all of the other lyrics from John Denver that we have in our lyrics database.

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

The old folks don’t talk much
They talk so slowly when they do
They are rich they are poor
Their illusions are gone
They share one heart for two

Their homes all smell of time
Of old photographs
And an old fashioned song
Though you may live in town
You live so far away
When you’ve lived too long

Have they laughed too much
Do their dry voices crack
Talking of things gone by
Have they cried too much
A tear or two still always seems
To cloud the eye

They tremble as they watch the old silver clock
When day is through
Tick tock oh so slow
It says yes it says no
It says I wait for you

The old folks dream no more
Their books have gone to sleep
The piano’s out of tune
The little cat is dead
And no more do they sing on a sunday afternoon

The old folks move no more
Their world become to small
Their bodies feel like lead
They might look out a window
Or else sit it a chair
Or else they stay in bed

And if they still go out
Arm in arm, arm in arm
In the morning chill
Its to have a good cry
To say their last goodbye
To one who’s older still
And then they go home
To the old silver clock
When day is through
Tick tock so so slow
It says yes it says no
It says I wait for you

The old folks never die
They just put down their heads
And go to sleep one day
They will hold each others hands
Like children in the dark
But one will get lost anyway
And the other will remain
Just sitting in a room
Which makes no sound
It doesn’t matter now
The song has died away
And echo’s all around

You’ll see them as they walk
Through the sun filled parks
Where children run and play
It hurst to much to smile
It hurts so much
But life goes on for still another day
As they try to escape the old silver clock
When day is through
Tick tock oh so slow
It says yes it says no
It says I wait for you

The old old silver clock
Thats hanging on the wall
That waits for us all

---

Want more lyrics and songs by John Denver?

John Denver has released many songs over the years besides Old Folks. John Denver released songs from 1969 to 1998 spanning across albums like Rhymes And Reasons, Take Me To Tomorrow, Whose Garden Was This?, Poems, Prayers And Promises, Aerie, Rocky Mountain High, Farewell Andromeda, Back Home Again, Rocky Mountain Christmas, An Evening With John Denver, Windsong, Spirit, I Want To Live, A Christmas Together, John Denver, Autograph, Some Days Are Diamonds, Seasons Of The Heart, Rocky Mountain Holiday, It's About Time, Dreamland Express, One World, Higher Ground, The Flower That Shattered The Stone, Christmas, Like A Lullaby, Different Directions, All Aboard!, and Forever, John. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by John Denver.

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

About Lyrics and Old Folks by John Denver

When you decide to study the lyrics to Old Folks, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1970 song by John Denver. Some of the lyrics to Old Folks have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only John Denver and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

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

More Songs & Lyrics by John Denver

Visit our John Denver profile for more John Denver songs, lyrics & info!

)