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.
Walk In The Sun
Bruce Hornsby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I work my window watching the women go round and round
Some people come here for love
Some people come for fantasy
When two in the morning comes around
My baby comes around for me
Someone come, come my someone
I know that sometime soon
One day, we'll walk in the sun
I'm taking tickets and watching the men always looking down
Sometimes I feel like an animal in the zoo staring out
No one looks me in the eye
They save it for the girls inside
I don't care much what they see
I know she saves it all for me
Someone come, come my someone
Take the clouds form my eyes, my one
I know that sometime soon
One day we'll walk in the sun
Some people come here for love
Some come for curiosity
I know there will be a day
I know we'll figure out a way
Someone come, come my someone
Take the clouds from my eyes, my one
I know that sometime soon
One day we'll walk in the sun
The lyrics of "Walk in the Sun" tell a story of a man named Vernon James who works at a window where he can see women walking by. He is waiting for his lover to come to him at two in the morning, when he seems to have a momentary contentment with his current situation. However, throughout the song, he sings with a longing for something more. He is stuck watching men come to see the women inside the window, feeling like an animal in a zoo. Despite his dissatisfaction with his work, "she" saves everything for him. He dreams of a day when he and his love can walk in the sun together.
The song speaks to themes of longing, dissatisfaction, and hope. Vernon James' life seems to lack meaning, as he watches women and men come and go from his window. He wants something more, represented by the image of walking in the sun. His hope is that someday he and his lover will be able to have a normal, happy life together.
Line by Line Meaning
My name is Vernon James and I live to the south of town
The singer introduces himself as Vernon James and tells us where he is from
I work my window watching the women go round and round
The singer's job involves observing women
Some people come here for love
The singer acknowledges that people come to this place for love
Some people come for fantasy
The artist knows that there are those who come for fantasy
When two in the morning comes around
The artist references a specific time of day
My baby comes around for me
The singer's partner comes to see him at this time
Someone come, come my someone
The singer is calling for someone to come to him
Take the clouds from my eyes, the one
The artist wants whoever he is calling for to clear his vision
I know that sometime soon
The artist is confident that something will happen soon
One day, we'll walk in the sun
The artist believes that at some point, he and the person he is calling for will be happy
I'm taking tickets and watching the men always looking down
The singer's job involves ticket taking, and he notices that men are often looking down
Sometimes I feel like an animal in the zoo staring out
The artist feels trapped or caged in his work environment
No one looks me in the eye
The singer feels like people do not acknowledge him
They save it for the girls inside
People pay more attention to the women at the venue than to the singer
I don't care much what they see
The singer is not bothered by people ignoring him
I know she saves it all for me
The artist's partner's attention is focused on him alone
Some people come for curiosity
The artist acknowledges that not everyone comes to the venue for romantic reasons
I know there will be a day
The singer is confident that a better day is ahead
I know we'll figure out a way
The singer believes that a solution to his problems will be found eventually
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: BRUCE HORNSBY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind