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Urge For Going Lyrics
I awoke today and found the frost perched on the town
It hovered in a frozen sky, then it gobbled summer down
When the sun turns traitor cold and all the trees are shivering in a naked row
I get the urge for going
But I never seem to go
I get the urge for going
When the meadow grass is turning brown
Summertime is falling down and winter is closing in
I had me a man in summertime
He had summer-colored skin
And not another girl in town
My darling's heart could win
But when the leaves fell on the ground
Bully winds came around, pushed them face down in the snow
He got the urge for going
And I had to let him go
He got the urge for going
When the meadow grass was turning brown
Summertime was falling down and winter was closing in
Now the warriors of winter they gave a cold triumphant shout
And all that stays is dying and all that lives is camping out
See the geese in chevron flight flapping and racing on before the snow
They got the urge for going
And they got the wings so they can go
They get the urge for going
When the meadow grass is turning brown
Summertime is falling down and winter is closing in
It hovered in a frozen sky, then it gobbled summer down
When the sun turns traitor cold and all the trees are shivering in a naked row
But I never seem to go
I get the urge for going
When the meadow grass is turning brown
Summertime is falling down and winter is closing in
He had summer-colored skin
And not another girl in town
My darling's heart could win
But when the leaves fell on the ground
Bully winds came around, pushed them face down in the snow
And I had to let him go
He got the urge for going
When the meadow grass was turning brown
Summertime was falling down and winter was closing in
And all that stays is dying and all that lives is camping out
See the geese in chevron flight flapping and racing on before the snow
And they got the wings so they can go
They get the urge for going
When the meadow grass is turning brown
Summertime is falling down and winter is closing in
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
this is a sad song. it always reminds me of being alone at night in the winter for whatever reason.
This is one of the first songs I've ever heard by Joni. When I was five years old my parents used to play it in our living room. The way I interpret it is that it's a song about moving on, and how moving on and change is necessary. In other words, the summers in life cannot remain forever, and winters constantly freeze over them while new summers form. Just all about the changes in life, and how they are inevitable.
this song gives me the chills
this song gives me the chills
Meaning is pretty literal here, I think. She has to go to the toilet, and she gets a strong urge, but she is constipated and never can seem to go.
Joni has stated that this is the only protest song she's ever written... A protest against winter.
It gets damn cold up in the northern plains of North America when fall comes on. The weather can change very quickly. Big cold systems dip down and it 's Game Over for summer. One night it freezes and overnight all the bugs are gone. The little birds slip away unobtrusively in small flocks but the big waterfowl raft up noisily in marshes and fields sometimes there are tens of thousands of them. They are looking to places well beyond the horizon. You can feel their restlessness and yearning. It's an ancient earth process and we all feel it. The days are getting shorter and everyone's hormones switch modes. We all feel urges.
The birds fly off southward and we are left behind to hunker down and endure yet another winter here on the ground. It's hard not to feel a little dejected and earthbound.
Summer loves end. Summer lovers leave. Right when you really want someone to hold you and keep you warm, you may find yourself alone. Right when our bodies really want to be making babies for next summer when the living will be easy. There are so many songs about men leaving women at summer's end (think 'I Dreamed A Dream' from Les Miserables). In truth sometimes women leave too.
Winter's closing in. It really does feel like that when you live at high latitude, as Joni did in her formative years. We don't exactly fear death and famine in winter as our ancestors once did, but we know it's going to be a long slog 'til spring and summer come again. All our modern human behavior is played out against an emotional backdrop colored by the way our brainstems respond to daylength and the way our pituitary glands respond to temperature. It's an ancient earth process and we all feel it.
That's what this song is a about. In a beautifully poetic way, because Joni Mitchell. 💕
[Edit: Corrected a few typos.]
this song gives me the chills