Lyrics to
You

This version of You was released by Bill Withers in 1974.

Our About Bill Withers page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for You from 1974 as well as all of the other lyrics from Bill Withers that we have in our lyrics database.

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

You want to take me to a doctor
To talk to me about my mind
To try to give directions to some places
That I don’t really want to find.

Trouble in me is not related
To things that I might say or do
I’m really not that complicated
Your good doctor friend, he oughta talk to you.

I notice that he can’t remember
Things that he never should forget
And why does he spend his evenings
Smoking them funny cigarettes?

I have a friend that knows your best friend
He goes some places where she goes
He said he saw y’all at a party
Sniffing white powder up your nose.

You got the nerve to call me narrow-minded
‘Cause I’m not loose and indiscreet
But people lying down always get blinded
By people standing on their own two feet.

Life is just a shadow
That I just can’t seem to find sometimes
But I guess I’ll make it
‘Cause I found out that it’s really in my mind.

You shouldn’t take it too seriously
‘Cause it really ain’t gone’ last too long
You really only got two choices
You can lay down and be weak
Or you can stand up where you’re at
And still be strong.

Tomorrow depends too much on today
And yesterday – all that gentleman is to you is gone
All you find out looking back
Is the fact that both of us was wrong
Both of us was wrong.

You’re talking right to me
But you really ain’t saying a thang
You’re pouring muddy water on me
Trying to convince me it’s rain
You’re talking to me crazy
But you’re trying to make me feel insane.

You’re like a Sunday family
Digging animals in a zoo
But while you’re looking at monkeys
Monkey’s looking dead at you
Two people getting done
Trying to figure out who’s doing who.

If you’re throwing dirt at people
You got to get some dirt on you
I got to take a tone of lies
Just to get an ounce of truth from you
You’re like a man loving Jesus
That says he can’t stand a Jew.

Get on down and play the dozens
Talk about four folks
From your mamma to your cousins
You down there,
You know what I’m talking ’bout.

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Bill Withers has released many songs over the years besides You. Bill Withers released songs from 1971 to 1985 spanning across albums like Just As I Am, Still Bill, Live At Carnegie Hall, #NAME?, Making Music, Making Friends, Naked & Warm, Menagerie, 'Bout Love, and Watching You, Watching Me. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Bill Withers.

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

About Lyrics and You by Bill Withers

The lyrics for You are defined as the words making up the song released by Bill Withers in 1974. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to You have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Bill Withers 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 You by Bill Withers 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 You" means the words set to the music of You, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Bill Withers. 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 You and the lyrics to You are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Bill Withers who came here looking just for the lyrics to You, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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