Monica Grabin: Music/Programs

Canadian Ian Tyson wrote this and so many other wonderful songs. He was writing about cowboys he’d worked with. When I sing it I’m thinking of my Massachusetts commune friends, who are very dear to me. (It’s a long story.) We had quite a time and this one is for them.

LYRICS

These friends of mine, we shared some good times together,
Days of sunshine, days of rain.
Many towns and many jobs we worked and we never,
Cared if we saw the same towns again.
Then one day we weren't as young as before,
Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo,
But by all those roads, my friends, we traveled down,
I'm better now for just the knowing of you.

These friends of mine, they never cared about tomorrow,
It was too early in the game.
They'd stick around until the day they got to wondering,
If the far side of the hill looked the same.
And some settled down somewhere along the way,
Yes, and some went wrong, as some folks do.
But by all those roads, my friends, we traveled down,
I'm better now for just the knowing of you.
Yes, by all those roads, my friends, that we traveled down,
I swear I'm better now for just the knowing of you.