Lyrics to
The Watchman’s Gone

This version of The Watchman’S Gone was released by Gordon Lightfoot in 1974.

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Just like birds of a feather
We too have followed the golden sun
It feels so good,
Knowin’ the watchman’s gone
If I give you a rose, buddy
Would you please bury it in the fields?
I seen a rose
Watchin’ it all fold out

There’s a train down at the station
It’s come to carry my bones away
Two engines on
Twenty-one coaches long
End to end
Twenty-one coaches bend
The watchman’s out
Kickin’ the bums about

If I wait for the right moment
You can bet I’ll climb aboard unseen
I’ve done it before
I know I can do it in my sleep

The watchman’s out
Kickin’ the bums about
The watchman’s out
Kickin’ your dreams about

As I leave you in the sunset
Got one more nothin’ I’d like to say
“You don’t know me
A son of the sea am I”
As I say to you, my brother
If you live to follow the golden sun
You better beware
Knowin’ the watchman’s always there

If you find me feedin’ daisies
Please turn my face up to the sky
And leave me be
Watchin’ the moon roll by
Whatever I was
You know it was all because
I’ve been on the town
Washin’ the bullshit down

The watchman’s out
Kickin’ your dreams about
It feels so good
Knowin’ the watchman’s gone
It’s like a song
Knowin’ the watchman’s gone

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Gordon Lightfoot has released many songs over the years besides The Watchman’S Gone. Gordon Lightfoot released songs from 1966 to 2004 spanning across albums like Lightfoot!, The Way I Feel, Back Here On Earth, Did She Mention My Name, Sunday Concert, Sit Down Young Stranger / If You Could Read My Mind, Summer Side Of Life, Don Quixote, Old Dan's Records, Sundown, Cold On The Shoulder, Summertime Dream, Endless Wire, Dream Street Rose, Shadows, Salute, East Of Midnight, Waiting For You, A Painter Passing Through, and Harmony. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Gordon Lightfoot.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1974 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The Watchman’S Gone by Gordon Lightfoot

The lyrics to The Watchman’S Gone are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Gordon Lightfoot used when the song was created in 1974. The lyrics to The Watchman’S Gone have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Gordon Lightfoot 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 The Watchman’S Gone by Gordon Lightfoot. 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 The Watchman’S Gone" means the words set to the music of The Watchman’S Gone, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Gordon Lightfoot. 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 The Watchman’S Gone and the lyrics to The Watchman’S Gone are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Gordon Lightfoot who came here looking just for the lyrics to The Watchman’S Gone, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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