In 1984 Hornsby formed Bruce Hornsby & the Range, who were signed to RCA Records in 1985. Besides Hornsby, Range members were David Mansfield (guitar, mandolin, violin), George Marinelli (guitars and backing vocals), Joe Puerta (bass guitar and backing vocals), and John Molo (drums).
During the 1990s he toured with the Grateful Dead, and released four albums, including A Night on the Town (1990) after which he split from The Range. Harbor Lights (1993) was his first solo album and signaled Hornsby was moving in a new jazz-influenced direction, whilst retaining elements of rock and pop. Later releases include Hot House (1995) and Spirit Trail (1998).
His experimental album Big Swing Face (2002) attracted much criticism as it veered away from his piano-based style. Despite these criticisms, he returned with his next studio album, shrugging off RCA and signing to Sony Music Entertainment. Halcyon Days, released in 2004, saw a return to the piano as the key instrument; this album also became the premise for his world tour the same year.
Hornsby continues to tour with his live band "The Noisemakers", in addition to solo shows and his progressive bluegrass performances with Ricky Skaggs.
In 2007 he released Camp Meeting, his first total jazz album as The Bruce Hornsby Trio, which involved jazz giants, Jack DeJohnette and Christian McBride with whom he made live appearances with throughout 2007.
In March 2007 Hornsby teamed with bluegrass player Ricky Skaggs to produce a bluegrass album, Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, and played several tour dates together. The seeds for the album had been sown in 2000 when the pair collaborated on "Darlin' Cory", a track on the Big Mon Bill Monroe bluegrass tribute album and then proposed recording an album together. Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, featuring the duo backed by Skaggs's band Kentucky Thunder, combined bluegrass, traditional country, "a tinge of Hornsby's jazzy piano and a splash of humor" on a spectrum of songs from the traditional to new compositions such as the opening track "The Dreaded Spoon," "a humorous tale of a youthful ice cream heist. The pair also reinvented Hornsby's hit "Mandolin Rain" as a minor key acoustic ballad and "give his cautionary tale of backwoods violence", "A Night On the Town," a treatment highlighting the "Appalachian storytelling tradition that was always at the song's heart. The album ended with a surprise cover of Rick James's funk hit "Super Freak" in a bluegrass arrangement. Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby topped Billboard's bluegrass charts for several weeks. The album showed Hornsby carving out a place for piano within traditional bluegrass, disproving the notion that the piano is not compatible with "string-oriented" bluegrass.
Concurrently with the bluegrass project, Hornsby recorded a jazz album, Camp Meeting. with Christian McBride (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums). Alongside original compositions by Hornsby, the trio delivered "newly reharmonized versions" of tunes by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, a previously unrecorded Ornette Coleman work ("Questions and Answers") and an early Keith Jarrett composition ("Death and the Flower.") The trio made a series of appearances in the summer of 2007, including the Playboy Jazz Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival and at the Hollywood Bowl.
On January 4, 2007, former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart reunited along with Hornsby, Mike Gordon (of Phish and the Rhythm Devils) and Warren Haynes to play two sets. including Dead classics, at a post-inauguration fundraising party for Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House in the United States Congress.
Hornsby wrote songs for a Broadway Musical, titled "SCKBSTD"; one song from this project, a playful biographical tune about real-estate tycoon Donald Trump titled "The Don of Dons," made several appearances in setlists during his early-2007 solo piano performances. He also composed the score for Spike Lee's ESPN documentary, Kobe Doin' Work, about NBA star Kobe Bryant and his MVP season.
Outside of music composition and performance, Hornsby has taken an ownership interest in Williamsburg area radio station "The Tide," WTYD 92.3 FM, and he has endowed the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program at University of Miami's Frost School of Music, encouraging the study of songwriting broadly across traditional genres. Hornsby played himself in a cameo role in the Robin Williams movie World's Greatest Dad, in which Williams' character is a Bruce Hornsby fan.
He has also been honored by piano makers Steinway & Sons with their Limited Edition Signature Piano Series. Hornsby selected ten Model B Steinway Grands to be featured in this collection, each one personalized with his signature. Hornsby owns three 9-foot Model D Steinway Grands himself.
The Show Goes On
Bruce Hornsby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Didn't you expect it when you opened your door
To the man with the long coat and the long list of victims
Everybody watching knows he's the one keeping score
From where she sits, everyone stands in judgment
People watching as the curtain falls down
See the lights do a long slow fade
Everyone watching all along
The show goes on, as the autumn's coming
And the summer's all gone
Still without you, the show goes on
Some say she's alright, some say she'll never learn
Some rush into things, some stand and wait their turn
I've been here all along standing here all this time
But you never noticed, just let the same tired flames burn
From where she sits, everyone stands in judgment
People watching as the curtain falls down
See the lights do a long slow fade
The show goes on, and the sad-eyed sisters go walking on
Everyone watching all along
The show goes on, as the autumn's coming
And the summer's all gone
Still without you, the show goes on
Time is passing,slowly passing you by
You better try to find it before it passes you by
As I watch you walking to another cold dawn
And you keep on walking
And they keep on talking
Talking all along
From where she sits, everyone stands in judgment
People watching as the curtain falls down
See the lights do a long slow fade
The show goes on, and the sad-eyed sisters go walking on
Everyone watching all along
The show goes on, as the autumn's coming
And the summer's all gone
Still without you, the show goes on
The lyrics to Bruce Hornsby & the Range's song "The Show Goes On" are a reflection on the cyclical nature of life, specifically the way that things continue to move forward even in the face of tragedy and hardship. The opening lines, "What's the long face, what's all the crying for / Didn't you expect it when you opened your door," set the stage for this idea, suggesting that the singer and his subject are all too aware of the inevitability of pain and difficulty in life.
The song then goes on to describe a woman who is being judged by those around her, even as she struggles to cope with her own pain. The singer acknowledges that some people rush into things while others wait their turn, but ultimately, he seems to suggest that everyone is ultimately powerless in the face of life's twists and turns. He describes the way that the "sad-eyed sisters go walking on" even as "the summer's all gone," emphasizing the idea that life goes on regardless of what we do or don't do.
The final lines of the song suggest that time is slipping away from the subject, who must "try to find it before it passes [her] by." Despite this, the song concludes on a note of hope, reminding us that "the show goes on" even when things seem overwhelming or out of control. Ultimately, "The Show Goes On" is a powerful meditation on the way that life can be both beautiful and difficult, and the way that we must keep moving forward even in the face of adversity.
Line by Line Meaning
What's the long face, what's all the crying for
Why do you look so sad and why are you crying?
Didn't you expect it when you opened your door
Weren't you expecting this problem when you allowed certain people in your life?
To the man with the long coat and the long list of victims
Refers to someone with a long history of causing pain and destruction who is now causing more harm.
Everybody watching knows he's the one keeping score
Everyone is aware that the person keeping score and causing harm is the one responsible for everything.
From where she sits, everyone stands in judgment
The woman in question is being judged by everyone else because she is in a vulnerable position.
People watching as the curtain falls down
Others are watching as the situation ends.
See the lights do a long slow fade
The situation is ending slowly and the lights are slowly going off, indicating that the situation is coming to an end.
The show goes on, and the sad-eyed sisters go walking on
Despite what has happened, life goes on with or without the woman.
Everyone watching all along
Others have been observing everything that has happened all along.
The show goes on, as the autumn's coming
Even though the seasons are changing, life continues.
And the summer's all gone
Summer, a time of happiness is over and the coming autumn might bring sadness.
Still without you, the show goes on
The woman may be gone, but the world continues to function as the woman watches on.
Some say she's alright, some say she'll never learn
People have different opinions about the woman, some think she'll improve while some believe she will never get better.
Some rush into things, some stand and wait their turn
People handle problems differently, some take on things quickly and others wait.
I've been here all along standing here all this time
Someone has witnessed everything that has happened from the beginning.
But you never noticed, just let the same tired flames burn
Despite others being present, the woman was too focused on one thing to notice anyone else.
Time is passing, slowly passing you by
Time is slowly slipping away.
You better try to find it before it passes you by
The person should try to catch up with time before it’s too late.
As I watch you walking to another cold dawn
Someone observes the woman walking into another cold and possibly unhappy time.
And you keep on walking and they keep on talking
The woman keeps walking while others continue to speak.
Talking all along
Others continue to talk.
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: BRUCE HORNSBY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind