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Summer Of His Years Lyrics

Artist: Connie Francis

A young man rode with his head held high,
Under the Texas sun,
And no one guessed,
That a man so blessed,
Would perish by the gun,
Lord, would perish by the gun.

A shot rang out like a Southern shout,
And Heaven held its breath,
For a man shot down,
In a Southern town,
In the summer of his years,
Yes, the summer of his years.

And we who stay mustn't ever lose,
The victories that he's won,
For wherever "man" looks to Freedom's past,
His soul goes riding on,
Lord, his soul goes riding on!

Comments/Interpretations

by DEFisher on 5/27/2008 10:32am
I do believe you have some of the lyrics wrong; I myself am not certain exactly what they are since I was 10 years old when all these things were happening, but the last two lines of the second verse are definitely NOT what you have listed. And, you have forgotten the bridge portion.

by Dan Collier on 5/27/2008 10:24pm
Your lyrics for Summer of his years is incomplete. The song goes like this: A young man rode with his head held high under the texas sun, and no one guessed that a man so blessed would perish by the gun, lord, would perish by the gun....A shot rang out like a sudden shout, and heaven held its breath, for the dreams of a multitude of men rode with him to his death, lord, rode with him to his death...Yes the heart of the world weighs heavy in the helplessness of tears, for a man shot down in a texas town in the summer of his years, the summer of his years.....And we who stay mustn't ever lose, the victories that he won. for wherever men look to freedom's end, his soul goes riding on, lord, his soul goes riding on! (I have the record) Thanks! -Dan

by Ted Parry South Wales, UK on 11/2/2010 6:24pm
Very close Dan - It's actually 'wherever men look to freedom then, his soul goes marching on'

by Zev Stern on 11/30/2010 11:37am
Is Connie Francis still alive, and if she is why can't somebody simply ask her what the original lyrics were?

by Doddee on 1/29/2011 1:17pm
Thank you. I heard that poem only once not long after Kennedy was shot and I have never forgotten the line "a man shot down in a Texas town in the summer of his years."
We have moved on, of course, but we lost so much when we lost JFK.

by Sheila from NC on 4/3/2011 11:50am
Dan, with the correction by Ted, has it on the nose! Know how I know? I have the original piece of paper where I wrote down the lyrics being played over the radio on the day of JFK's funeral! It's all yellowed with age, but I still have it. Since I lived in the DC area, it played very often on the radio.

by JimD on 6/27/2011 9:36pm
Who wrote it?It was supposedly sung by Millicent Martin on the BBC the day after Kennedy was shot. According to Billboard 1966. her version along with versions by Mahalia Jackson, Connie Francis and others were banned by US broadcasters.