Josh Ritter - Thin Blue Flame Lyrics

Too much,to much

Hes gay

is he really? He writes straight romance SO beautifully. Guess love is love....

A nice change from the crap out there..

Wow!!! Very well articulated.

as close to the voice of God as any

Still THE greatest lyric and performance ever I have heard. "Heaven is so big there is no need to look up." "Only a full house" is the best theology humanity has ever conceived.

Bob Dylan meets John Lennon. Writer genius and musical genius. I heard Josh once say in an interview that radio stations and Preachers might hate him. This retired Pastor is humbly impressed! Thanks ever so much for being SO damned real.

I can only hope this inspires folks as it did me.................Nice song when I needed a nice song............Be well and Keep Doing Your Best to Make a Difference!!!!!!!!!!!!

Painful. Powerful. Beautiful. Raw. True.

the lyrics are what moved me so so much. Genius!

i just heard this a few minutes ago while driving through town. omg...i am so blown away!

"Only a fullhouse... only a fullhouse" bad pokernight? Awesome music though!

This song is so fucking good. If this is the only song you wrote, it would be enough. FUCK FASCISM. Fuck Imperialism. Fuck war.

For Dean,
There are actually good Cowboys.

"I became a thin blue flame,
Polished on a mountain range,
And over hills and fields I flew,
Wrapped up in a royal blue,

I flew over royal city last night,
We're fighting the harms of a new born light,
Cesar's ghost I saw the wartime tides,
The prince of Denmark's father is still unquiet,
The whole world was looking to get drowned,
Trees were a fist shaking themselves at the clouds,
I looked over curtains oh 'twas then that I knew,
That only a full house go'n to make it through,

I became a thin blue wire,
That held the world above the fire,
And so it was I saw behind,
Heaven's just a thin blue line,

If God's up there he's in a cold,. dark room,
The heavenly hosts are just the cold, dark moons,
He bent down and made the world in seven days,
And ever since he's been walking away,

Mixing with Nitrogen and lonely Hoes,
Where neither seraphim nor raindrops go,
I see an old man wandering the halls alone,
But only a full house go'n' to make a home,

I became a thin blue string,
The smoke between asleep and dreams,
And in that clear blue undertow,
Saw royal city far below,

Borders soft with refugees,
Streets are swimming with amputees,
It's a bible or a bullet they put over your heart,
It's getting harder and harder to tell them apart,

The days are nights and the nights are long,
Beating hearts blossom into walking bombs,
And those still looking in the clear blue sky for a sign,
Get missiles from so high that they might as well be divine,

And now the dogs are howling at your door,
Singing about vengeance like it's the joy of the Lord,
Bring justice to the enemies not the other way around,
They're guilty where killed and they're killed where they're found,

If what's loosed on Earth will be loosed on high,
It's a hell of a heaven we'll go to when we die,
Where even Laurel begs Hardy for vengeance, please,
The fat man's crying on his hands and his knees,

Back in the peacetime he caught roses on stage,
Now he twists indecision takes bourbon for rage,
Lead Pellets, Pepper and Aluminum,
Halcyon, Laudanum and Opium,

Sings kiss thee Hardy this poison cup,
His wine and sheet is busy winding it up,
And doctor he looks for lights that have died,
You need faith for the same reasons that it's so hard to find,
And this whole thing is headed for a terrible wreck,
And like a tragedy it's what we expect,

I became a thin blue (Throat Chakra much, Rumi?)

And now they make plans for a city laid down,
The hips of a girl on the Spring covered ground,
Spirals and capitals and the twist of a script,
streets named for heroes that could almost exist,

Fruit trees from Eden and the Gardens that seem,
To float like smoke from a Lithium dream,
Cedar trees growing in the cool of the squares,
young women walking in the portals of prayer,
The future glass buildings and the past and address,
The weddings in pollen and the wine bottomless,
And all wrongs forgotten and all vengeance made right,
The suffering verbs put to sleep in the night,
The Future descending like a bright chandelier,
The world just beginning and the guests in good cheers,
In royal city i fell into a trance,
'Cause it's hell to believe there ain't a hell of a chance.

Words and ecstatic approximations collectively captured by Homo Sapiens Worldwide. Found in Biology Class. Nxt to norml school.

I woke beneath the clear blue sky,
The sun a'shout the breeze a'sigh,
The old hometown and the streets I knew,
Wrapped up in a Royal Blue,
I heard my friends laughing out across the fields,
The girls in the gloaming and the birds in the wheel,
The raw smell of horses and the warm smell of hay,
Cicadas electric in the heat of the day,
A run of three sisters and a flush of the lamp,
The lake was a diamond in the valley's hand,
The straight of the highway and the scattered out hearts,
They were coming together they were pulling apart,
And angels everywhere were in their midst,
And the ones that I loved and the ones that I kissed,
I wondered what it was I'd been looking for above,
Heaven's so big there ain't no need to look up,
So I stopped looking for royal cities in the air,
Only a full house go'n' to have a prayer,
Only a full house,
Only a full house

Considering our current political situation this song seems more relevant than ever. Who'd ever thought our next president would be an orange face clown installed by the Russians and we would know it and still------- n o t  h  I   n   g  is done to change it. I mean Bush 43 was a bad enough joke but trump ???? It's hell to know there ain't a hell of a chance

1oldgoat keep the faith, my friend. gotta hope for the best.

I saw him live the week after the election, I was hoping he'd play this song... he walked out and without a word he opened with it.

"the lake was a diamond in the valleys' hands"

This is my favorite line in any song ever, and has been since the first time I heard it.

I felt moved for the first time in a long while.

Stacy Lynn Rash this song almost always moves me

something is gone, probably for ever but okay

Such a poetic stream of consciousness. First song I hear from this artist but I'm definitely hooked. Always been a sucker for singer songwriters.

Such a masterpiece.

~~ ... Beautiful ...

What. Is. Not. To. Love. About. Josh. Ritter???

RIP Alison Parker and Adam Ward

awesome song

Entrancing! Thank You, Josh Ritter!

The piano beginning at 6:52 is my favorite part

"Heaven's just a thin blue line"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Blue_Line_%28emblem%29

Josie Kat the other 'blue line'....never to be crossed.

it was.

Doctor JR.

this song is a masterpiece....and at 9+ minutes of divine inspiration. ...you gifted the world something beautiful here. Basquiat....see the movie...prince in the chamber....namaste josh ritter....keep making your art, your gift(s). WoW on the 777s....

whats with the zooming in and out, come on dude:/

my bad. I was messing around with imovie when i made this and didn't realize it until i uploaded it on here. then I was over it.

No worries Mike, it's a great song thanks!

Honestly, tho.... why are you even looking at a screen while listening to this?
haha. We're all guilty I know. but just set the screen to black and look out the window.

Saw him years ago and fell in love at the concert!

Credit is not often given to those who deserve it. You have undeserving famous people spitting on their fans off balconies, then you have deserving artists receiving little recognition.

Life is a bitch.

That was gorgeous. Through all that you have suffered, know that you are not alone. You are loved.

just found hes music on a movie i just finish was... awesome song.

Can some one explain me about the paragraph;"Where even Laurel begs Hardy for vengeance please"  - I searched the web and found about the comediants Laurel and Hardy but not sure if he is talking bout them, Im not from the US so..

Mr. and Mrs. Ritter must be the proudest parents ever.

Josh Ritter is "Hip", but he is in no way one of this piece of crap hipsters.

Angel headed hipsters yearning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night

non cantare come jackson browne

No one ever really seems to notice, really. Even back then, there were some artists who never really achieved any form of mainstream success or found and lost it. No one knows a band called White Noise, but they were like Radiohead 30 years before Radiohead. There's also an 80s metal group called Savatage. My uncle's kind of involved in the world of some of the offshoot bands, (Trans Siberian Orchestra, Jon Oliva's Pain,) but they're not really known either, despite their influence.

Yes, exactly. There's nothing new under the sun.

Good music is good music. Most people recognize it eventually, but most people don't pay attention til they get older. It sinks in, with time.

im a 17 year old two sport varsity athlete. my i pod is 90% rap. i am not ashamed to say this is beautiful.

No he wouldn't. Look up a song called "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies. That was the number one hit in 1969. It's bubblegum pop that's really not all that different from our bubblegum pop. The great rock and folk of that time didn't ever really enter the mainstream all that often. It's now realized as some of the best, of course, but back then? Nope.

i think because he was indi music for a while and didnt get raido play i like the fact hes not played every where i wouldnt want him to be rushed to put out song because it might change things

@rystify You could say that about most musicians.

I heard this song in my religion class. I like the beat, I want to find the instrumental and add it to my own video. His lyrics are kind of cool to, but I kind don't like how he put it all together.

so, seven years on, do you still feel this way?

@zomj
False. He was born in just the right generation. We need hope, too.

Poetry...

i listin to his songs and i wonder ... why is josh ritter not a household name? why dont more people listin to him insted of musians of lesser or no talent who i refuse to mention here? josh ritter, you not only are good ... your great, plese keep doing what you do.

Some of the best lyrics ever! Amazing : )

truly a masterpiece!
amazing lyrics

Awesome song, Thanks for posting

Awesome song, Thanks for posting