Star Of Bethlehem

Album: American Stars 'N Bars (1977)
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  • Ain't it hard when you wake up in the morning
    And you find out that those other days are gone?
    All you have is memories of happiness
    Lingerin' on

    All your dreams and your lovers won't protect you
    They're only passing through you in the end
    They'll leave you stripped of all that they can get to
    And wait for you to come back again

    Yet still a light is shining
    From that lamp on down the hall
    Maybe the star of Bethlehem
    Wasn't a star at all Writer/s: Neil Young
    Publisher: Hipgnosis Songs Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 5

  • Kahliforni from CaliforniaAll of us look BACK as we get older, and when thinking of old lovers and friends, we seem to remember mostly the good times…as if youth isn’t the obvious answer as to why the past seems always to be the “good old days.” But backward looking is no way to live, at any age. It stifles movement, growth, adventure. By the end of the song, he finally looks FORWARD to that “lamp on down the hall.” Maybe those great times weren’t great times at all. Maybe right now is the best place to be.
  • Tim from OrbitDidn’t some claim that the sighting of the comet Kohoutek in December of 73 might be the Star of Bethlehem?
  • Bruce from MontrealNo, despite the gloom and the fact that "your friends and lovers can't protect you", still, "a light is shining From that lamp on down the hall".

    Maybe that is the star of Bethlehem - for each of us. We do have a future...
  • Jayna Sheats from Aptos, CaI've always taken this as the exact opposite. The "Star of Bethlehem" was obviously Jesus, not the light in the sky... This is one of the most beautiful examples of deep ambiguity in poetry that appears in modern musical lyrics. But as Robert Hunter said: "I know where my allusions came from, but I don't know where they've been."
  • Mal C from Ny NyTo whoever contributed these Song-facts, thank you!
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