Swing the Other Way — Clearly adult dancers switch partners and directions at a joyous outdoor Merced community dance beneath sweeping ribbons and orchard branches

The songbook

Swing the Other Way

Words by Douglas Heyes Jr. Listen to the recorded versions and follow the lyric below.

Original Doug Heyes lyrics · AI-generated music & vocals

An invitation to a Saturday gathering opens into thoughts about friendship, loneliness and the movement of time. The narrator promises companionship while waiting for a call that could change the evening. A swinging pendulum becomes the image of another possible outlook, suggesting that familiar life can be seen differently together.

Listen

Recorded versions

2 recordings. Different voices and arrangements bring another side of the song into the light.

Lyrics

Swing the Other Way

Words by Douglas Heyes Jr

Save Lyrics as Text
SWING THE OTHER WAY

Would you come over and play
Could it be this Saturday
My friends are on their way
From a thousand miles away
They said it wasn't easy
To get the time to come
Work and home and family
And another rising Sun

I came right out and promised them
We were gonna have some fun
So come on out and play
And we'll Swing The Other Way

It's way up North of Malibu
A Castle in the Sand
It can be just me and you
Or a kick to beat the band
If you do, I promise you
That I will hold your hand
Until we're Swept Away
We'll Swing The Other Way

Long shadows in the Evening
As the Sun is going down
Can you feel the World turning
Spinning round and round
One way or the other
Someone's gonna cry out loud
Do you ever feel alone
When you are in a crowd?

I can hear the ticking
Of the clock up on the wall
I'm standing in the kitchen
And I'm waiting for your call
The pendulum is swinging
Forever, endlessly
I can't believe what's happening
I'm living in a Fantasy

Ride the waves at Evenflow
It doesn't matter where you go
There's just one thing that I know
Everything is beautiful
Yesterday will Fade Away
Tomorrow will become today
We'll see things in a whole new way
When we Swing The Other Way

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© Douglas Heyes Jr. All rights reserved.