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Song Lyrics

Night Ride Home

by Joni Mitchell

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Once in a while
In a big blue moon
There comes a night like this
Like some surrealist
Invented this 4th of July
Night Ride Home

Hula girls
and caterpillar tractors in the sand
The ukulele man
The fireworks
This 4th of July
Night Ride Home

I love the man beside me
We love the open road
No phones till Friday
Far from the overkill
Far from the overload

Back at the bar
The band tears down
But out here in the headlight beams
The silver powerlines
Gleam
On this 4th of July
Night Ride Home

Round the curve
And a big dark horse
Red taillights on his hide
Is keeping right alongside
Rev for stride
4th of July
Night Ride Home

I love the man beside me
We love the open road
No phones till Friday
Far from the undertow
Far from the overload

Once in awhile
In a big blue moon
There comes a night like this
Like some surrealist
Invented this 4th of July
Night Ride Home

© 1988; 1991 Crazy Crow Music

Footnotes

As archived in Mojo Magazine's March 2019 issue: “That’s a sweet song that was written in Hawaii when Larry and I were driving along on the fourth of July to this house we had rented. There was this big moon and the clouds moving across the island so quickly. Everything looked so magical…even the white line on the highway. It was as if someone had sprinkled fairy dust all around…It’s interesting how people hear your sad songs and think you must be miserable or whatever. They don’t think William Shakespeare was miserable just because he wrote about tragedy. I see myself as a singing playwright and an actress and I try to make plays that are pertinent to our times…I fully experience my anxiety and my grief, but that doesn’t mean I don’t also have a lot of fun.”

Transcriptions of Night Ride Home

Night Ride Home has been recorded by 49 other artists

  • A Bird That Whistles (from "A Bird That Whistles" - 1996)
  • Alibrandi, Lisa  (from "Midnight Sky" - 2000)
  • Bailey, Wendy Lane  (from "Breathing" - 2011)
  • Big Yellow Taxi (from "A Tribute To Joni Mitchell" - 2002)
  • Binnendyk, Rebecca  (from "Some Fun Out Of Life" - 2016)
  • Brindley, Luke (from "Strathmore Presents - A Tribute To Joni Mitchell" - 2009)
  • Case & Davidson (from "20 Years" - 2010)
  • Casella Studio (- )
  • Davidson, Billy (from "Floating Home" - 2000)
  • Dee, Charlie (from "A Tribute To Joni Mitchell Live At Kriterion" - 2009)
  • Electric Bug Trio (- 2011)
  • Endo, Masami (from "Beyond the River Plate" - 2013)
  • Errico, Melissa (from "Blue Like That" - 2003)
  • Fabulous Connections with Kate Vereau (from "Into Midnight" - 2003)
  • Get A Room (from "Digital Single" - 2019)
  • Hammersland, Frank (from "So Easily Distracted" - )
  • Hemma (from "Digital Single" - 2020)
  • Henning Olsen Band (from "A Tribute Minus Mitchell" - 2004)
  • Itxaso & Daniel Perez (from "New Land Lur Berria" - 2000)
  • Kadoos (from "Joni Goes Dutch" - 2014)
  • Kennedy, Brian (from "A Love Letter To Joni" - 2013)
  • Knutsen, Marianne Tovsrud (- 2012)
  • Kuhn, Judy (from "All This Happiness" - 2013)
  • Kwan, Bill (from "More Than This" - 2013)
  • Laurence, Emily Rose  (from "Relativity" - 2020)
  • Local Store (from "Heroes" - 2023)
  • London Pro Musica Choir (from "Songs Of The Land" - 2008)
  • Love On Drugs (from "Solder" - 2018)
  • Marquard, Annette (- )
  • Michael Hussman & Tina Lerch (- )
  • Michael Nold Band (from "echolalia" - )
  • Michael Sagmeister & Britta Medeiros  (from "When The Moment Sings" - 2005)
  • Neuhaus, Tim (- 2020)
  • Paul Berner & Michael Moore (from "Amulet" - 2021)
  • Ragogna, Mike  (from "Writer's Block" - 2004)
  • Redtenbacher's Funkestra (from "BOTH SIDES NOW: AN HOMAGE TO THE SONGS OF JONI MITCHELL " - 2023)
  • Rev. Rabia (from "Ol' Guitar" - 2020)
  • Robin Adler & Mutts of the Planet (from "Safaris to the Heart - The Songs of Joni Mitchell" - 2010)
  • Röhnelt, Thomas  (from "COVER VERSION" - 2022)
  • Saul, Vic (from "PazFest - The New Orleans Tribute to Joni Mitchell at the Howlin' Wolf" - 2002)
  • Saul, Victor (from "Never Look Back" - 2011)
  • Scattergood, Liz (- 2007)
  • Scott, Judith (from "Down Easy" - 2017)
  • Shaw, Ian (from "Drawn To All Things" - 2006)
  • The Steve Klink Trio (from "Places To Come From, Places To Go" - 2002)
  • Vannatter, Dane (from "Flight" - 1999)
  • Vurchio, Savio  (from "Savio Vurchio " - )
  • Woodstock (- )
  • Yoghill (from "Jonisongs" - 2003)
  • [more information on recordings by other artists]

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This song appears on:

  • Night Ride Home
    View album Night Ride Home Released February 19, 1991
  • The Complete Geffen Recordings
    View album The Complete Geffen Recordings Released September 23, 2003
  • Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced
    View album Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced Released November 24, 2014