Judy Collins at Governors Island The Blizzard (Colorado)

Twenty years after this song was written, Judy, native of Denver, Colorado, sings of finding warmth in a very cold world, and drives on to recovery from a broken heart in one of her most moving personal songs. July 26, 2009 New York City. Thanks to Trinity Church of Wall Street for bringing Judy Collins to its "Folks on the Island" series of open air concerts.
Colorado, Colorado
When the world leaves you shivering
And the blizzard blows,
When the snow flies and the night falls
There's a light in the window and a place called home
At the end of the storm.

One night on the mountain I was headed for Estes
When the roads turned to ice and it started to snow,
Put on the chains in a whirl of white powder,
Half way up to Berthoud near a diner I know


And the light burned inside, shining down through the snowfall
God it was cold and the temperature droppin',
Went in for coffee and shivered as I drank it,
Warm in my hands in the steam as it rose.


Sitting there at the counter was a dark headed stranger,
Me and the owner and him keepin warm,
Nodded hello and I said it's a cold one
Looks like there might be a blizzard tonight -


And "yes", said the owner,"
There's a big storm on the mountain,
Good thing we're open, we could be here for hours
There's nothing for miles and it's too late to get to Denver,
Better not try for the summit tonight".


And the snow fell
And the night passed
And I talked to the strangers
While the blizzard blew.


Me and the stranger, you know I don't talk to strangers,
I'm a private sort of person but a blizzard is a blizzard,
And somehow I found myself saying you'd left me,
Tellin' him everything I wanted to say to you.


You know how it is when you can talk to a stranger,
Someone your quite sure you'll never see again -
Soon we were laughin', and talkin', and drinkin'
He said "you must know you're too good for him".

And the snow fell
and the night passed
And I talked to the stranger
while the blizzard blew.


The stranger said "Love it can cry you a river -
Me, I'm a loner cause I can't take the heartache
And sometimes I'm a fighter when I get too much whiskey -
Here have a little whiskey, pretend you don't give a damn -


My cabin's up here on the side of the mountain
You can go up there and sleep through the blizzard".
I put on my parka, said goodbye to the owner
Followed the stranger through the snow up the mountainside.

Woke in the morning to the sun on the snow,
My car was buried in six feet of snow drifts,
They dug me out, just the owner and the stranger,
Sent me on my way when the snowplow had been by

And the roads were all clear and the sun on the mountains
Sparkled like diamonds on the peak to peak highway -
Then I knew that I would get over you, knew you could leave me
But you'd never break me.

Colorado, Colorado
When the world leaves you shivering
And the blizzard blows,
When the snow flies and the night falls
there's a light in the window and a place called home
At the end of the storm.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Judy
• Collins
• blizzard
• snow
• love
• romance
• heartbreak
• piano
• Governor's
• Island
• bar
• drinking
• Colorado
• car
• driving

[NoraBayes]

My favorite Christmas tune. The sound balance is a bit off here, but still lovely.

[clairedelune49]

It sounds fine to me. Anyone else have a problem?

[DERedhead65]

@weightfeather1 YES I agree... she is still lovely... this is my FAV song she does and she is AMAZING "live"... she plays and sings so beautifully... and her stories are quite neat... this song makes me want to go up to a mountain inn in Aspen or somewhere where it is snowing. sit in front of a roaring fireplace, having a hot mug of coffee or cocoa, and have an interesting conversation with a mysterious stranger...

[moniquetb]

She's my Hero!

[1979Beth]

I am very excited I am going to get to see her in Portsmouth, NH on august 4th outside great venue area!

[MsBlynn]

Thank you!!!

[tender121995]

lol