Desert Moon
Written by Dennis DeYoung
Lead Vocals by Dennis DeYoung
"Is this the train to Desert Moon?" was all she said
But I knew I'd heard that stranger's voice before
I turned to look into her eyes, but she moved away
She was standing in the rain
Trying hard to speak my name
They say first love never runs dry
The waiter poured our memories into tiny cups
We stumbled over words we longed to hear
We talked about the dreams we'd lost, or given up
When a whistle cut the night
And shook silence from our lives
As the last train rolled towards the dune
Those summer nights when we were young
We bragged of things we'd never done
We were dreamers, only dreamers
And in our haste to grow too soon
We left our innocence on Desert Moon
We were dreamers, only dreamers
On Desert Moon, on Desert Moon
On Desert Moon, Desert Moon
I still can hear the whisper of the summer night
It echoes in the corners of my heart
The night we stood and waited for the desert train
All the words we meant to say
All the chances swept away
Still remain on the road to the dune
Those summer nights when we were young
We bragged of things we'd never done
We were dreamers, only dreamers
Moments pass, and time moves on
But dreams remain for just as long
As there's dreamers, all the dreamers
On Desert Moon, on Desert Moon
On Desert Moon, Desert Moon
Interpretation
Here it is in Dennis' own words, from a January 1985 interview with Rockline:
"It's a song about lost innocence."
In a September 1999 interview with Rockline Dennis elaborated by saying that "Desert Moon" represents not a specific place but somewhere special from the innocence of one's childhood to which one can never return. The name "Desert Moon" was inspired by a request for him to contribute a song to the soundtrack for the movie Dune, a science fiction movie based on the popular books about a desert world. The deal for a song in Dune never materialized, but the name stuck.
In the liner notes to Dennis DeYoung: The Ultimate Collection, Dennis says, "'Desert Moon' represents a time and place we all wish we could return to."
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