"Changes" (Brothers Four)

The song "Changes" as sung by the Brothers Four.

A popular song also sung by Phil Ochs and Gordon Lightfoot.

Sit by my side, come as close as the air
Share in a memory of gray
Wander in my words, dream about the pictures
That I play of changes
Green leaves of summer turn red in the fall
To brown and to yellow they fade
And then they have to die, trapped within
The circle time parade of changes
Scenes of my young years were warm in my mind
Visions of shadows that shine
'Til one day I returned and found they were the
Victims of the vines of changes
The world's spinning madly, it drifts in the dark
Swings through a hollow of haze
A race around the stars, a journey through
The universe ablaze with changes
Moments of magic will glow in the night
All fears of the forest are gone
But when the morning breaks they're swept away by
Golden drops of dawn, of changes
Passions will part to a strange melody
As fires will sometimes burn cold
Like petals in the wind, we're puppets to the silver
Strings of souls, of changes
Your tears will be trembling, now we're somewhere else
One last cup of wine we will pour
And I'll kiss you one more time, and leave you on
The rolling river shores of changes
So sit by my side, come as close as the air
Share in a memory of gray
Wander in my words, dream about the pictures
That I play of changes

Category:

Music

Tags:

• changes
• brothers
• four

[rokoseiji]

I am Japanese who turns 54 years old this year. It knew Brothers Four when it was 40 previous state of year or more junior high school student, and it heard it well. It was not found though the title was not understood and it looked for by YouTube though it liked this tune. It found it by chance now. It misses and tears fall.

[BluesmanDizzy]

Changes is one of my all time favorite songs.

But I don't like this version.

Of course the close harmony is o.k.

But there's not a lot of feeling in the singing I'm sorry to say.

[BluesmanDizzy]

@spacepatrolman Oh man, that's a terrible version. It has hardly any feeling in it.

[BluesmanDizzy]

@spacepatrolman

In that case I have to agree with you about who came first.

Thanks for the information. I do appreciate.

[spacepatrolman]

@BluesmanDizzy listen to gene clark and carla olsens version another jim and jean ripoff

[spacepatrolman]

@BluesmanDizzy jim was phil ochs roomate taught him how to play the guitar and jim and jean did some of the first recordings of his songs phil wrote the notes on the back of the album join the phil ochs club in facebook

[BluesmanDizzy]

@spacepatrolman You are right about the likeness.

But I'm not sure who came first.

They both recorded it in 1966, as far as I can see.

Probably Jim & Jean, like you say.

But I like StPeters version better to be honest, and he did both voices (over-dubbed here and there)

[spacepatrolman]

@BluesmanDizzy The crispian version sounds like he is ripping off jim and jeans arrangement

[BluesmanDizzy]

@yardbirds333: I don't think that I've ever heard the versions you mentioned. But I'm going to look them up.

Thank you for the tip.

My favorite version so far would be the one by Crispian St.Peters. I can listen to it time and time again, and it still brings a tear to my eye everytime I hear it. That's doesn't happen with many other songs I have to say.

[yardbirds333]

@BluesmanDizzy I agree fully. My 2 favourites are Ian And Sylvia at the \newport Festival and then Lightfoots warm, rich rendition.

[Valteron8]

This version by the Brothers Four does not really do a good job. They have changed some of the lyrics: they sing "serpentine parade" instead of "circle time parade" and they have left out about half the verses. If you want a good versionj listen to Gordon Lightfoot. Or if you want to hear Phil Ochs himself singing it, look for the version with Phil Ochs and Julie Felix in Sweden. The sound on that one is terrible, but Phil and Julie singing are so beautiful. Both versions are on Youtube.

[Valteron8]

@rokoseiji Hello, Rokoseiji-san! I am a 63-year-old Canadian. I also have loved this song all my life. But I do not think this version by the Brothers 4 is good. Try the Youtube version by Gordon Lightfoot. We love this song because it is about our mortality. Japanese culture speaks a lot about how changes, aging, mortality and death are both good and bad. The Japanese poems about plum blossoms that must fall are like the Asian version of this song. We hate to die, but we celebrate it.