This week, Jim has set us the task of posting about a song written by a duo. Hmm. A few famous duos quickly came to mind: Lennon & McCartney; Jagger & Richard perhaps most (too?) obviously.

Then I thought of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, who – in my humble opinion – deserve to have statues put up just on the strength of ‘I’m Going Back’. Anyway, I googled a list of their collaborations and I was very pleasantly surprised to find this.

I never realised that Goffin and King wrote ‘Wasn’t Born To Follow’, perhaps best known – as here – in the version by The Byrds that was one of the highlights of the soundtrack of ‘Easy Rider’, a film that pressed all my buttons when I saw it as an eighteen-year old in between school and university.

Oh, I’d rather go and journey
Where the diamond crescent’s glowing
And run across the valley
Beneath the sacred mountain

And wander through the forest
Where the trees have leaves of prisms
And break the light in colors
That no one knows the names of

And when it’s time I’ll go and wait
Beside a legendary fountain
‘Til I see your form reflected
In its clear and jeweled waters

And if you think I’m ready
You may lead me to the chasm
Where the rivers of our vision
Flow into one another

I will want to dive beneath
The white cascading waters
She may beg, she may plead
She may argue with her logic

And mention all the things I’ll lose
That really have no value
In the end she will surely know
I wasn’t born to follow

Written by Gerry Goffin & Carole King

Song Lyric Sunday 18 February 2024