America – Ventura Highway

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Chewing on a piece of grass
Walking down the road
Tell me, how long you gonna stay here Joe?
Some people say this town don't look
Good in snow
You don't care, I know

Ventura Highway in the sunshine
Where the days are longer
The nights are stronger
Than moonshine
You're gonna go I know

'Cause the free wind is blowin' through
Your hair
And the days surround your daylight
There
Seasons crying no despair
Alligator lizards in the air

Wishin' on a falling star
Watchin' for the early train
Sorry boy, but I've been hit by
Purple rain
Aw, come on Joe, you can always
Change your name
Thanks a lot son, just the same

Ventura Highway
In the sunshine
Where the days are longer
The nights are stronger
Than moonshine
You're gonna go I know

'Cause the free wind is blowin' through
Your hair
And the days surround you daylight
There
Seasons crying no despair
Alligator lizards in the air

Send "Ventura Highway" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by Ice

Track duration: 03:33

"Riverside" as written by Dewey Bunnell

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


Ventura Highway song meanings
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21 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Please don't give me thumbs down; but this song is clearly about drugs, animal abuse and a gay lifestyle.
    Flagged mrkennyon November 27, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Great classic song. Always puts me in a good mood.
    Flag ConductivePigeonon June 01, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:One of my all-time favorite songs.

    I wonder, why the shift in person? I have to believe that Joe is the narrator. Is he talking to himself? Or mimicking something another has said. I love those lines where he sort of asks and answers himself.
    Flag capecodmorningon May 25, 2011   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning:

    Sounds like the saga of two hitchers/train-tramps , bound for nowhere and defined only by the freedom
    of their experience. However, Joe has become settled and his pal is pleading for him to hit the road
    again. Maybe even just two desires in the same person. A multi-generational classic that appeals to all who have been pulled apart by freedom and commitment.
    Flag spotomorseon November 19, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I was listening to Ventura Hwy 2 months after my wife passed away while driving on open highway going north in California. It made me feel like my wife was riding beside me. Still gives me chills to listen to this song in this light. It's a classic song of changing times, traveling on, remembering the past, but moving forward, somewhere, anywhere, and being ok with it, if fact, cool with it. The song gave me comfort, and helped me see the sun shining on my wife's face, with a cool breeze flowing through her hair. I know she's in a better place.
    Flag covinacareon July 29, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:FACT: "ALLIGATOR LIZARDS IN THE AIR" REFER TO THE HUGE ABUNDANCE OF ALLIGATOR LIZARDS ALONG THE CLIFFS OF THE PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY. THERE ARE SO MANY SCRAMBLING LIZARDS THAT THEY ARE LITERALLY FALLING OFF THE CLIFFS AND 'FLYING' THROUGH THE AIR. DRIVERS HAVE TO TURN ON THEIR WINDSHIELD WIPERS TO CLEAR THEM FROM THE GLASS; IT'S QUITE MESSY. I KNOW;.. I WAS BORN IN OXNARD AND LIVED IN VENTURA ALMOST ALL MY LIFE. ALLIGATOR LIZARDS BITE TOO....
    Flag mrkennyon February 22, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Looks like Leonardo217 hit the nail on the head. I always wondered what the hell "alligator lizards" were in reference to... It appears they were just thoughts of a teen on Ventura highway. Cool song
    Flag Zenmanshipon December 10, 2009   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning:America member Dewey Bunnell wrote this song. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times October 1, 2006, he explained: "It was 1963 when I was in seventh grade, we got a flat tire and we're standing on the side of the road and I was staring at this highway sign. It said 'Ventura' on it and it just stuck with me. It was a sunny day and the ocean there, all of it."

    Regarding the lyrics, "Seasons crying no despair, alligator lizards in the air," Bunnell said: "The clouds. It's my brother and I standing there on the side of the road looking at the shapes of clouds while my dad changed the tire."

    There's no official "Ventura Highway," but Ventura is a county in California, and Highway 101 runs through it.
    Flag leonardo217on August 20, 2009   Link
    • 3 Replies
  • +2
    General Comment:why do people always have to connect songs from this era with drugs and just take it how it is I mean some songs like Hotel Califorinia by the eagles abviously are but ya i dont think this could have anytihng to do with drugs its just about restlessness and wanting a change somehow some way
    Flag Marinersfan4lifeon October 02, 2008   Link
  • -2
    General Comment:I always thought it was an homage to cocaine.

    Ventura Highway is a slang term for a line of coke - maybe that fed the rumour. Life imitating art (or some such thing).

    Anyways, great song by a great band.
    Flag Scared_of_Girlson July 29, 2007   Link

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