Janis Ian Guess You Had To Be There Lyrics

Back in nineteen-sixty-three,
We walked a fine line.
We were takin' to the streets,
Skatin' on a thin dime.
We were searchin' after truth and beauty,
Now they turn it into late-night movies.
How can I explain,
That it's not the same?
Guess you had to be there, to be where
Love belonged to everyone.
Flowers in the long hair, we stood there,
Singing, "We shall overcome."
Knowing the eyes of the world were on us.
Knowing the whole world cared.
Guess you had to be there,

In the summer of our youth.
We came together,
And we knew that our truth,
It would live forever.
We were gonna make the whole world honest,
When a bullet got the bravest of us.
Somehow nothin' else was sacred,
And we all stood naked.
Guess you hat to be there, to be where
Love belonged to everyone.
Flowers in the long hair, we stood there,
Singing, "We shall overcome." Knowing the eyes of the world were on us.
Knowing the whole world cared.
Guess you had to be there.

Now we listen to the news,
And it seems all hope is gone.
Everybody feelin' used,
And there's nowhere left to run.
Sometimes it feels like the memory,
Is all that's left of our used-to-be.
But what can never be denied,
Is the way we changed inside.
I guess you had to be there, to be where
Love belonged to everyone.
Flowers in the long hair, we stood there,
Singing, "We shall overcome."
Knowing the eyes of the world were on us.
Knowing the whole world cared.
Guess you hat to be there, to be where
Love belonged to everyone.
Flowers in the long hair, we stood there,
Singing, "We shall overcome."
Knowing the eyes of the world were on us.
Knowing the whole world cared.
I guess you had to be there.