Born in Hollywood, California, Brian has been composing music as long as he… Read Full Bio ↴Born in Hollywood, California, Brian has been composing music as long as he can remember. Family members tell him that when he was very young he began whistling nearly all the time. When someone would ask what he was whistling, Brian would usually answer something like, "I don't know. I just made it up."

He was only six years old when his parents bought a baby grand piano, thinking that Brian's musical talents could use a more polished medium. But Brian continued to whistle his songs. He was not drawn to the keyboard. When he was ten years old, Brian began taking piano lessons, but he soon became bored with the lessons. Besides, the piano took time away from his new passion, baseball. So he gave up the piano. His need to compose, however, would not be stopped. His friends would often hear him whistling his newest compositions during practice or games on the baseball diamond. At this young age, Brian was dreaming of becoming a professional baseball player while whistling his own songs.

Brian would occasionally sit down at that nearly forgotten piano. He would improvise at the keyboard, just as he had always improvised with his whistling, playing with the notes until something started sounding just right. He was, without realizing it, teaching himself to play the piano.

Also without intending to do it, Brian was training himself to compose at the piano. By his early twenties, he was composing songs for award-winning children's films. He was also still nurturing his dream of playing professional baseball, but after unsuccessful tryouts with professional teams, he sadly let that dream slip away.

It was during this time that his family suggested he record his personal piano works and release them on CD. He had never seriously considered recording for CD release, but when he recorded the first album in 1996, it was so well received that he started spending all his time composing and recording his own works. Now he jokes that the best thing that ever happened to him was not becoming a professional baseball player.

Brian's albums “Piano Opus” and ”Piano and Light” experiment with odd timings and minimalist concepts. Writing beautiful melodies on top of 7/8 timing is a challenge suited for Brian’s love of mathematics and quest for new ideas in music. He has also achieved great success with his two duet albums "Piano and Cello Duet" and "Piano and Violin Duet", inspiring tens of thousands of piano, violin and cello players to perform Brian's compositions all over the world.

Many of Brian's compositions are used in movies and television commercials around the world and in 2013 Brian was honored as the Honorary Cultural Ambassador for Yeongwol, S. Korea, one of the sites of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The Long and Winding Road
Brian Crain Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I've seen that road before
It always leads me here
Leads me to your door
The wild and windy night
That the rain washed away

Has left a pool of tears
Crying for the day
Why leave me standing here
Let me know the way
Many times I've been alone
And many times I've cried
Anyway you'll never know
The many ways I've tried
But still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long long time ago
Don't leave me waiting here
Lead me to your door
But still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long long time ago
Don't leave me waiting here

Lead me to your door
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Overall Meaning

In Brian Crain's song The Long and Winding Road, the singer portrays a sense of longing and desperation for someone or something. The first verse sets the tone of the song and emphasizes the idea that the path to finding the answer to the singer's problem is a long and winding one. However, this road always leads him back to his desired destination, which is to the door of the person he is looking for. The second verse continues this imagery and contrasts a "wild and windy night" with the "pool of tears" that has been left behind after the rain has washed it all away. The singer cries for "the day," implying that he is looking for hope to continue on, but he does not know the way to go.

The chorus repeats the idea that the long and winding road always brings the singer back to the person he is looking for, even though he has been alone and crying many times before. The singer seems to be stuck in a cycle of searching and coming back to the same place where he started. The final lines of the chorus-- "you left me standing here a long long time ago, don't leave me waiting here, lead me to your door"-- portray the desperation, imploring the other person not to abandon him and to show him the way.

The lyrics of The Long and Winding Road are open to interpretation and can apply to a variety of situations. They can be interpreted as a love song, a song about finding one's way back home or about searching for a sense of purpose in life. Many of the lines are ambiguous and can be applied to several different scenarios, which is the hallmark of a good songwriter.

Line by Line Meaning

The long and winding road
The path to your affection has many twists and turns

That leads to your door
It is the way to your heart

Will never disappear
It is impossible to forget

I've seen that road before
I've felt this feeling before

It always leads me here
It guides me back to you

Leads me to your door
Brings me closer to you

The wild and windy night
The tumultuous and chaotic times I've experienced

That the rain washed away
That I thought were gone, but still linger

Has left a pool of tears
Created sadness within me

Crying for the day
Longing for a brighter tomorrow

Why leave me standing here
Why make me wait for so long