Collins, Judy - My Father Lyrics

College days

how did this happen dad. I ignored you for so long and now you're gone. How can I tell you I love you?

Please try to hear the Peggy Lee version of this lovely song. You can find it on a live BBC 4 show from many years ago, perhaps even here on YouTube. It breaks your heart

https://youtu.be/y2xP3L3e57k

If silk could sing,
I think it would something like this.

My dad has profound mental illness and this song just crushes me. All the possibilities for our life together ended up to pure shit. I am very ruefull. I would have loved a life lived with my dad. I am trying to see this song as an anthem for people who try to move beyond a barrier and do something new / outside a family grove. I am not there yet. I am still very nostalgic.

So sorry Megan. Every child deserves a father they can love and respect. I am sorry you did not have that.

The folk music of the 60's and early 70's, I was lucky enough to see this angel perform in Syracuse in 1970. Such beauty !!

Simply one of the best

Can't stop my tears. I am lucky to have gone through the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and so on.

Compare with the stunning version of Nina Simone, this one sounds a bit boring

Beautiful song. Even if the Paris she is singing about died long ago.

Thank you, Edmund. One of my absolute favorite Joni Mitchell's songs. Interestingly enough, it is not found on Amazon music. So glad you posted. I do, however still have this album!

This was written by Judy Collins, not Joni Mitchell. One of Judy’s first songs of her own

Far better than the finest wine.

This Mortal Coil brought me here.

Me too.

why does this song always reduce me to tears every.single.time?

Hi over there.....I love the last comments for a million reasons ......I have my own sweet story why I love Judy Collins.....I came to America as a Young Girl in 1976 as a “au pair”, for a year in New Jersey . the family I worked and lived with loved Judy.......I was also tanken with her beautiful Voice and lyrics , and “ my father”; was my favorite song!😂😂😂😂😂 Now so meny years later, I still hope that I one Day Will have the opportunity to hear Judy Collins in live.....
Sincerly, a devoted fan from Denmark. Susanne Jensen.🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰

penguinmama88
penguinmama88
4 months ago
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
Set in my father's eyes again

I have watched the setting sun in my father's eyes & will never see the Seine, but my mam did, she went to Paris & saw the Seine!

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
Set in my father's eyes again

That Judy's father was blind, adds poignancy to the lyrics.

I love this song. My husband is always talking about going to Paris. When I hear this song, I feel as though I'm there....

Came here because I adore the "This Mortal Coil" version and it's a Christmas tradition around here, so I figured I had to hear the original. Never even knew it was a cover until yesterday!

It's just beautiful. So heartfelt and honest. Thanks for posting it!

from my daughter : Damn Straight I know what you are about. 
Proud of the man that you are. Now and always 

Miles apart heart to heart!!!!

Fabulous song pg Paris

I think this is one of Judy Collin's best songs. If you have ever been in a coal mine ... the song just rings true....

A young Black man I was when I first hear Judy Collins and I couldn't get enough of her beautiful voice and her stories in song. Living in the projects of Chicago's South side, I needed to hear such music, while I stared out the window wishing to fly away. Thank you sweet Judy, you are one of my many sheroes.

I grew up in Lombard, Ill. I completely understand. Her voice made me forget any problems.

Saw her January 2019 in Hawaii- the voice and soul remain strong!

Simply beautiful. Song and singer. Thanks for posting.
Please listen to " Gravity the writers " , which is about my Father in law.

Just discovered this song, really beautiful. Thanks for posting.
Please listen to " 9 Clifton road the writers". Thank you.

I remember her performing this song on a variety show in the 1960s. I could remember some of the lyrics, and I remember it was a haunting song. I had always wanted to hear it again. I was never really a big fan of Judy Collins, but this song always stayed with me through the years. It's good to hear it again.

How many fathers, in the last 6,000 years, have had unfulfilled dreams for their families? Sad.

It's not unfulfilled, she built her life around her Father's dream, and carried it on thru her children. The gift her Father left her.

dad I have never forgotton you..,

I am 68 and wish I had been a better son, but we can`t go back. I tried to be a good dad, do we ever get it rightÉ

This song reminds me of my three beautiful daughters. I love you and miss you. God bless you.

a beautiful tribute to her father and father's everywhere

This song is too real. I just heard it for the first time right now and I'm crying already. 
#rightinthefeels

me also

+Wayne Williams I played her songs over and over when I was a teen. She has a voice as clear as a spring stream. I use to buy her albums all the time.

+rockmonst3r I used to sing this as a teenager, over and over and think of my father promising me this as Europe always fascinated me.  He actually made sure I traveled Europe at 17.  Now I sit here learning the chords and playing it again. Tears rolling down. My father passed away this January at the age of 92.  But somehow this song is soothing the pain of my soul.  So touching , so feeling. as a beautiful songbird sings these words

we'll weep together

Yes, Judy and her sweet song pierce the heart...and the sadness overwhelms...

sometimes
music is so good
it makes you cry

.
-- My beloved father. I´ve always missed him. He passed away a long time ago :,(

Yes.  An incredible song, meaning not unbelievable other than that she has hit it.  She hit several songs in her time,  Go see if you can find an early youtube rendition of The Albatross Song.

JUDY! My second best friend in life...(Joni Mitchell being first) They've been with me since high school, marriages, deaths, births...and after all these years...still there...laughing, smiling and crying with me...There is no music made like this anymore...

yes yes yes Nicki x

yes there is. it's never made mainstream though.

"Niki Smith" her kind of music is considered to be "folk." Very typical type of music in the late 1960s into the mid 1970s. Some people consider it too mild and mellow and "middle of the road." and dreck.

I don't know why..

Saw her do this song at the Birchmere in Alexandria VA last Saturday. At age 75, her voice is a clear and pure as always.

I hope she comes to Cincinnati Ohio sometime. But, if this was 4 years ago and she's 79 now, what are the chances? Prayers to Joni for all she has given us.

This beautiful singer has touched my soul for many years, I miss my father so, he died many  years ago, we who have or have had a loving Father are blessed.
Judy sings with such feeling. , thank you Edmund
 

After our parents are gone and we grow older realizing how foolish we were when young and the wisdom they had it is too late to say I'm sorry. This strikes to the heart as do some of the older songs I nostalgically listen to evoking forgotten emotions for family passed. I miss them.

Thank you Edmund, and all for comments and feelings on this song. Somehow over the 60 years of my life, this song has remained constant. It's comforting to know how others have shared it in the same way. 

All the Best,
Mike

Beautiful, it reminds me of all the times I spent walking with my Father.

This is for you, Dad.  You know why.

This piece has been a long-time favorite of mine, although truthfully I very much prefer Amanda McBroom's version, which I first heard decades ago. She has a beautiful, clear, expressive voice. I wish I could find her version on the web, but I haven't yet. I'll keep looking. The magical quality of the song moves my heart. I was delighted to hear it again after all these years! The piano accompaniment is lovely here.

"Hope De Cleene" I actually never heard this song anytime before. It is so beautifully sung.

And, Edmund, I believe Judy would approve of this mode of transport; so much of this song is immersed in symbolism, and imagination. The Paris sun set, symbolically, in her father's eyes, as he was blind. (Surely, he was not a miner.) This piece is so deep I suppose it could only be expressed through such vivid and poignant figures of speech, the likes of which drive me to tears, even after all these years, decades, of listening to this angel. . .
Thank you for your posting it.

Thank you very much! This is one of my all time favorite songs!

First time I heard this I was six years old. I sort of understood the lyrics, loved the sound of her voice and the music, and made pictures in my head as I heard it. As I got older I identified with the girl in the song and in my mind I could see her dancing. Now, almost 45 years later, I identify with both the father and the daughter. What hasn't changed through all the years are the pictures in my head when I hear Judy Collins sing this song.
Thanks for posting.

It's a great one.

Thank you, my friend. A beautiful voice, a great songwriter....she's wonderful.

very nice!

Sorry, Annie:-) I would be there myself if I had the energy to travel at my age:-) This is how I travel now:-)

I loved Judy Collins as a teenager, and still do. What a lovely voice she has! Frankly I'm more a Strasbourg fan (I love Alsace), but Paris will do. :-) Especially after hearing this beautiful, dreamy, wistful song, it was all my partner could do to stop me booking tickets. We blame you, Edmund! Thank you for this gem of a song. :)

Thanks, Nate. I thought of you when I put this up...I know how much we both like her. Rght up there with Galli Curci:-) This is one of my favorite. I'm from Ohio, originally, and I'm a big Francophile, so how could I not like it, right:-)