Four Leaf Clover

Lyrics

The steelers stole the stars from the Ohio Valley skies
You see a flicker through the factory dust then it dies
But I can still make a wish I may I might
Find a way to run off with you to a corner of the night

We'll take my magic carpet, bucket seats it's built for two
And see the world so beautiful as if to mirror you
Shoes and eys and bluejeans, you and me, all perfect pairs
Two old friends on their front porch rocking in their rocking chairs

And I won't be throwing shadows, throwing shadows at the sun
Here's to good luck, here's tomorrow until tomorrow has begun
If I could give to you a rainbow I'd be the lucky one
Yes I'd be the lucky one

I wish I could tell the future but the prophet is a fool
He's shunned and scorned and begins to believe their ridicule
Buy he sees a cool bright morning and begins to write a song
About something he can't believe is so delicate and so strong

Hello four-leaf clover I was thinking about you today
A queen and a nine nineteen I wish you could stay
It's been about a month now, and you know I'm still the same
Now you're in the Badlands and they have to change the name

And I won't be throwing shadows, throwing shadows at the sun
Here's to good luck, here's tomorrow until tomorrow has begun
If I could give to you a rainbow I'd be the lucky one
Yes I'd be the lucky one

The steelers stole the stars from the Ohio Valley skies
That's OK. I still know a way to dream when I close my eyes
I figured out the way you do that thing you do
I heard the word from a ladybug that four-lead clovers look for you

Reflections

I wrote this song for a girl I fancied. She was quite lovely, and we had a lot in common. But I guess it was never meant to be. I was 26 and she was 20, a large age discrepancy in some respects. I also was still uncertain about myself and what I wanted.

I spent a summer in Eastern Ohio while finishing undergraduate studies. She was spending the summer with a girl friend of hers near the Badlands, South Dakota. I drove across America that summer, and sang this song for her. But that's all I had - a song. A great song writer, Bill Morrissey, wrote, "You can write the song that wins her heart; but you can never write the song to make her stay." So true.

This is one of my best songs of that period. I still play it on longer solo gigs. The title of the record, "Throwing Shadows at the Sun," came from this. I love that line - you are what you are and you can't fool the sun (or other types of metaphorical Light).

"The prophet is a fool" comes from the Old Testament, Hosea I think. The rainbow is a classical symbol of a covenant, as when Noah knows the flood is over and sees a rainbow.