Album: Nebraska (1982)

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• Last night I dreamed that I was a child
  Out where the pines grow wild and tall
  I was trying to make it home through the forest
  Before the darkness falls
  
  I heard the wind rustling through the trees
  And ghostly voices rose from the fields
  I ran with my heart pounding down that broken path
  With the devil snapping at my heels
  
  I broke through the trees and there in the night
  My father's house stood shining hard and bright
  The branches and brambles tore my clothes and scratched my arms
  But I ran 'til I fell shaking in his arms
  
  I awoke and I imagined, the hard things that pulled us apart
  Will never again, sir, tear us from each other's hearts
  I got dressed and to that house, I did ride
  From out on the road I could see its windows shining in light
  
  I walked up the steps and stood on the porch
  A woman I didn't recognize came and spoke to me through a chained door
  I told her my story and who I'd come for
  She said "I'm sorry son but no one by that name lives here anymore"
  
  My father's house shines hard and bright
  It stands like a beacon calling me in the night
  Calling and calling, so cold and alone
  Shining 'cross this dark highway where our sins lie unatoned Writer/s: Bruce Springsteen
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 6

• Sf from New YorkLiz, it may have been Emmylou Harris.
• Martin from Chichester, United Kingdom'the line 'devil snapping at my heels' also used in wages of sin avaliable on tracks... bit like 'french kisses' line from shes the one used on santa ana, this also on tracks basically get tracks its amazing... lots of classics that never saw light of day till now
• Tim from Denver, CoI hadn't talked to my father for about five years when I heard this song. Its lyrics were so powerful (especially the end where he goes to his father's house and is told "I'm sorry, son, but no one by that name lives here anymore"), that I actually called my dad ans patched up the relationship. We now get along better than ever.
• Liz from San Mateo, CaI should add the npr show was called Dreamhouse and it was all about memories of houses we grew up in.
• Liz from San Mateo, CaI heard a version of this on This American Life on NPR that I want to find. It was an old country version with great guitar. The web side for TAF won't tell me, they say that have too many request of this kind. Could you help me find the artist?
• Larry from Bakersfield, CaThis may have something to do with his relation to his father, but it clearly also deals with the agony of losing one's faith. Note the biblical references "my father's house" and "our sins lie unatoned."

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