“My Father Always Promised Us…

… that we would live in France.” With a haunting melody and lyrics describing a life of longing, Judy Collins composed this song in 1969, as a loving tribute to her father, who taught her to dream. He died shortly thereafter, never having heard her perform it. I hope you enjoy this musical montage (click here for the music) and Happy Father’s Day!

               “My father always promised us, that we would live in France

We’d go boating on the Seine

And I would learn to dance.

                            We lived in Ohio then, he worked in the mines

                    On his dreams like boats, We knew we would sail in time

                                    All my sisters soon were gone

                                         To Denver and Cheyenne

                               Marrying their grownup dreams

                                            The lilacs and the man

       I stayed behind the youngest still,  Only danced alone,  The colors of my father’s dreams, Faded without a sound

And I live in Paris now My children dance and dream

             Hearing the ways of a miner’s life, In words they’ve never seen…

                    I sail my memories of home, Like boats across the Seine

            And watch the Paris sun,  As it sets in my father’s eyes again…”

Have a lovely father’s day… Susan