Ventura Highway - America (cover-live by Bill Sharkey)

Ventura Highway (America,1972). Live cover performance by Bill Sharkey, Home Studio, Hawaii Kai, HI. 2022-04-22. "Keeping the Oldies Alive"

"Ventura Highway," written by America's Dewey Bunnell, was the band's third release and third consecutive top 10 hit landing in the no. 8 position on the Billboard hot 100 chart in 1972 (Whitburn, 2013). The band formed in London, England (the three members were sons of American military personnel) and moved back to the USA in 1972 to kick start their career (Whitburn, 2013). The song "Ventura Highway" was inspired by an unfortunate situation Bunnell and his family experienced. He recalled: "It was 1963 . . . 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, . . . [and when asked about the curious lyric] '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" (D. Bunnell, Los Angeles Times Oct. 1, 2006, p. 70). Interestingly, there is no official Ventura Highway in LA; he was referencing Highway 101, which runs through Ventura (songfacts.com, 2022).

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Lyrics:

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

Di di di di di

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

Di di di di di