The Man That Got Away
Nancy Wilson Lyrics


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The night is bitter,
The stars have lost their glitter,
The winds grow colder,
And suddenly you're older
And all because of
The man that got away.

No more his eager call,
The writing's on the wall,
The dreams you dreamed have all
Gone astray.
The man that won you
Has run off and undone you.
That great beginning
Has seen it's final inning,
Don't know what happened
It's all a crazy game.

No more that all-time thrill
For you've been through the mill,
And never a new love will
Be the same.

Good riddance, good-bye.
Every trick of his you're on to
But fools will be fools and where's he gone to?

The road gets rougher,
It's lonelier and tougher.
With hope you burn up,
Tomorrow he may turn up.
There's just no letup
The livelong night and day.

Ever since this world began
There is nothing sadder than
A one-man woman
Looking for the man that got away

The road gets rougher,
It's lonelier and tougher.
With hope you burn up,
Tomorrow he may turn up.
There's just no letup
The livelong night and day.

Ever since this world began
There is nothing sadder than
A one-man woman
Looking for the man
The man that got away





The man that got away

Overall Meaning

is a song that talks about heartbreak and the pain that comes with losing someone you love. It is a song about being let down, disappointed, and perhaps even betrayed. The opening lines set the stage for the overall mood of the song - it is a bitter, cold night and the stars have lost their glitter. The singer feels lonely, and the winds seem to echo their pain.


The song then talks about the man that got away - the person who won the singer's heart and then left, leaving her feeling undone. The song talks about how the dreams they had together have all gone astray, and the once-great beginning of their relationship has now come to an end. The singer cannot explain what happened and feels like it was all a crazy game.


The chorus then talks about how the road gets rougher, and it becomes lonelier and tougher. Despite the pain, there is hope that he may come back, but the singer is burning up with this hope that never seems to materialize. The song concludes by stating that there is nothing sadder than a one-man woman looking for the man that got away.


Line by Line Meaning

The night is bitter,
The current moment and mood of the singer is filled with sadness and despair


The stars have lost their glitter,
The happiness and joy that once existed in the singer's life has faded away


The winds grow colder,
The situation is only getting worse and harder to handle for the singer.


And suddenly you're older
The artist feels like they have aged significantly in a short period of time due to the emotional turmoil they are experiencing.


And all because of
The artist's current state is solely due to


The man that got away.
the departure of the significant other that the singer cared for deeply


No more his eager call,
The singer will no longer receive the happy and loving calls from their significant other


The writing's on the wall,
It is clear from the actions of the significant other that the relationship is over.


The dreams you dreamed have all
All the hopes and aspirations that the artist envisioned for their life with the significant other have now vanished


Gone astray.
They have gone completely off course


The man that won you
The significant other who captured the singer's heart


Has run off and undone you.
The significant other has departed and left the artist feeling broken and incomplete


That great beginning
The amazing start to the relationship


Has seen it's final inning,
The relationship has come to an end


Don't know what happened
The singer has no idea what went wrong


It's all a crazy game.
Love is unpredictable and can be confusing


No more that all-time thrill
The thrill of love is no longer present


For you've been through the mill,
The singer has been through a lot of difficult situations in life


And never a new love will
The singer feels like love will never come again


Be the same.
Love will never be the same without the significant other


Good riddance, good-bye.
The artist is glad that the significant other has left their life and says goodbye to them


Every trick of his you're on to
The artist is aware of every deception and manipulation from the significant other


But fools will be fools and where's he gone to?
The singer knows that the significant other was a fool but doesn't know where they have gone to


The road gets rougher,
The path ahead will get harder


It's lonelier and tougher.
The path ahead is lonelier and harder to navigate without the significant other


With hope you burn up,
The singer holds onto hope and let it consume them entirely


Tomorrow he may turn up.
The singer is still hoping for the significant other to comeback tomorrow


There's just no letup
The sadness and despair will not go away


The livelong night and day.
The artist will experience this pain day and night without rest


Ever since this world began
Throughout the history of the world


There is nothing sadder than
Nothing evokes more sadness than


A one-man woman
A woman who loves only one man


Looking for the man that got away
Searching for the significant other who has departed and left the woman feeling incomplete




Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: HAROLD ARLEN, IRA GERSHWIN

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Comments from YouTube:

@Seabasstien

Love Nancy Wilson and Judy Garland and agree this is Judy's song. It does showcase how versatile a singer Nancy was. How did these two singes not make The Rolling Stones top 200 singers list?

@bronzevenus7836

Nancy Wilson is an incredible singer and performer. She knew not to try to out-torch Judy.

@jameswynn2221

Nancy looks Great and her styling of this song is her own,Ilove it

@jacquelinepaul9731

Interesting..but I'm not sure the greatest torch sing ever could improve with being jazzed up,however I still enjoyed it.

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