Bones in the Sky

The imagery of this song references the art of Georgia O'Keeffe, best known for images of the American Southwest and extreme close-ups of flowers. Her work was vivid, colorful, and often interpreted as sensual.

O'Keeffe died in 1986 at the age of 98. This song was released in 1990. Dan Fogelberg, the composer and singer, also focused on the American West. This song makes it clear he considered her an influence. I speculate the lyrics line up to individual paintings, but I'm not familiar enough with O'Keeffe's work to lay it out. I hope an art fan will enlighten us in another comment.

While O'Keeffe had bones as a major theme, one particularly famous work may have inspired the title: "Ram's Head, White Hollyhock and Little Hills," 1935, shows a bleached ram's head against a blue sky over the desert. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:O%27Keeffe_Georgia_Ram%27s_Head.jpg

Unfortunately, the lyrics above are for the song "Spirit Trail", which appeared on the same album Wild Places. "Bones in the Sky" is a beautiful song, and, indeed, a tribute to the artist Georgia O'Keefe. It's a grave disservice to display the wrong lyrics here.

Try: Bones In The Sky

Up through the branches The stars shine above on the arroyos and mesas you loved And as the moon rises, the black mountain mourns For the old friend he'll look on no more

Jacks-in-the-Pulpit, bones in the sky Long winding rivers that never ran dry And the secrets she gathered from the wild blowing sands Breathed in her heart and her hands

I sing to your spirit where all my dreams dwell The vision--the freedom, the life lived so well And I sing in your canyons and the echoes ring clear And I wish somehow you may still hear