Lyrics Page
Nonny Nonny
16 views
Sep 30, 2026 updated
Verified editorial review
Song Meaning
Chris Rice turns a childhood memory into a meditation on authorship and eternity, opening with lemon-colored summers, popsicle stains, plastic army men, and the feeling that even at seven he owed thanks to whoever was writing his story. That conceit carries the whole song: life as a biography, with God as the Author. The chorus drops into a nonsense refrain — "Nonny Nonny" — that works like a river, washing over the singer, lifting him up for air, and carrying him downstream while he runs the earth and watches the sky. The second verse reaches into adolescence and borrows from C.S. Lewis, describing ordinary moments that felt like catching a glimpse of Aslan's mane, mystery pulling him toward love rather than argument. By the final verse the scope widens: grown-up lives tangled together by the billions, a last page waiting to be turned, and the startling hope that looking the Author in the face is not an ending but a beginning. What lingers is the image of all these remembered years as only the first sentence of something far longer.
Lyrics Verified by Editorial Team
Summer warm and lazy
Lemon sun and hazy
Remember?
Popsicle red on my chin
Bikes and plastic army men
And no sign of September
Something in my seven years was telling me
To thank the Author of such a biography
Nonny Nonny Odle'ee
River washes over me
Up for air and carry me away
Nonny Nonny Odle'igh
Run the earth and watch the sky
Praying hard and waiting for the day
Nonny Nonny Odle'ay
My adolescent 70's
Reads just like the pevensies
Adventures
'Cause every perfect now and then
I cought a glimpise of Aslan's mane
And I longed for His treasure
Something in His mystery was drawing me
To love the Author of my own biography
Nonny Nonny Odle'ee
River washes over me
Up for air and carry me away
Nonny Nonny Odle'igh
Run the earth and watch the sky
Praying hard and waiting for the day
Nonny Nonny Odle'ay
All grown up and living fine
Biographies all intertwined
With billions
And soon He turnsthe final page
We'll look the Author in the face
Then the book really begins
'Cause something tells me all these years of memories
Are only the first sentence of eternity
Nonny Nonny Odle'ee
River washes over me
Up for air and carry me away
Nonny Nonny Odle'igh
Run the earth and watch the sky
Praying hard and waiting for the day...
Nonny Nonny Odle'ay