You know when a song gets stuck in your head and all you can hear is it? Well in the weeks winding up to Christmas weekend all I can think of is a song about Christmas in Colorado.
I initially thought it was a John Denver song – but after an exhaustive search I couldn’t locate the song. Until today while engaging in some housework (an activity I avoid on all but the most special of occasions) I heard it playing on the radio. Quick as a flash the lyrics were googled and the song was found.
Drum roll please….
The song is sung by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, lyrics by Steve Goodman and here are the lyrics:
Colorado Christmas
Looking out the window of this Hollywood hotel,
You’d never know that it was Christmas eve.
The billboards and the neon took the place of silver bells,
And the temperature is 84 degrees.
I can hear the traffic on the crowded strip below
As the palm trees poke their heads above the scene
There’s not a single reindeer and it hardly ever snows,
And Santa drives a Rolls Royce Limosine.But all along the rockies you can feel it in the air
From Telluride to Boulder down below
The closest thing to heaven on this planet anywhere
Is a quiet Christmas morning in the Colorado snowI remember christmases when I was just a boy
In the morning I would run to see the tree.
And the carolers on the hillside sang their songs of christmas joy
Well, I always thought they sang them just for me.
Now the sun is setting in the california sky
And I can’t find the spirit anywhere
So I think it’s time for me to tell Los Angeles goodbye
I’m going back home to look for Christmas thereBut all along the rockies you can feel it in the air
From Telluride to Boulder down below
The closest thing to heaven on this planet anywhere
Is a quiet christmas morning in the Colorado snow
For more on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band go here. And for more about Steve Goodman go here.
