John Denver Revives “The Wings That Fly Us Home” in a Moving September 1993 Performance
In September 1993, John Denver delivered a stirring live rendition of “The Wings That Fly Us Home,” re-introducing a deep-cut favorite to audiences with the warmth and clarity that defined his career. A widely circulated video captured Denver onstage that month—introduced by the singer himself—performing the reflective piece co-written with novelist/poet Joe Henry. One upload identifies the date as September 21, 1993 in Huntsville, Alabama, at a NASA benefit concert.
Originally released on Denver’s 1976 album Spirit, “The Wings That Fly Us Home” closes the record with meditations on wonder, kinship, and the search for meaning—lyrics that Denver long credited primarily to Joe Henry, paired with his own melody. The studio version remains available on major streaming platforms and in the official discography.
Onstage in 1993, Denver’s gently picked guitar and unforced tenor let the lyric land without ornament. Lines about “the spirit” that “fills the darkness of the heavens” drew audible hush from the hall, underscoring why the song—never a chart single—endures as a spiritual centerpiece for longtime fans. Multiple uploads of the performance continue to attract new listeners, keeping the moment alive more than three decades later.
Lyrics
There are many ways of being in this circle we call lifeA wise man seeks an answer, burns his candle through the nightIs a jewel just a pebble that found a way to shineIs a hero’s blood more righteous than a hobo’s sip of wineDid I speak to you one morning on some distant world awayDid you save me from an arrow, did you lay me in a graveWere we brothers on a journey, did you teach me how to runWere we broken by the waters, did I lie you in the sunI dreamed you were a prophet in a meadowI dreamed I was a mountain in the windI dreamed you knelt and touched me with a flowerI awoke with this: a flower in my handI know that love is seeing all the infinite in oneIn the brotherhood of creatures; who the father, who the sonThe vision of your goodness will sustain me through the coldTake my hand now to remember when you find yourself aloneAnd the spirit fills the darkness of the heavensIt fills the endless yearning of the soulIt lives within a star too far to dream ofIt lives within each part and is the wholeIt’s the fire and the wings that fly us homeFly us home, fly us home