This is a song about feeling your life slip away doing the same old thing every day and thinking that there must be a big, interesting world out there if I just go out and find it. Turns out that a life on the road means you miss out on the important things in life and it's just a succession of fleeting experiences and bad situations. The guy in this song ends up begging in the street. It's a kind of stream of consciousness thing like "The Road" by Jack Kerouac.

Lyrics:

Did you ever feel your life unwind
Same picture every day
There must be more on a far off shore
Why would you want to stay?
But the road is cold, dark and old
So this is what I say
Listen hard 'cause yard by yard
It took my life away

Trucker's stops, coffee pots
A waitress trapped in time
Years of dust and old red rust
Another glass of wine
Gunmetal days, forgotten ways
To lose this soul of mine
Red leather booths and country tunes
I can't get off my mind

Fields of grain and summer rain
To wash away the dirt
But a hundred miles of frozen smiles
Can't take away the hurt
Country lanes and weather vanes
Faded in the sun
Empty barns, abandoned farms
Where wild horses run

Angry skies and false goodbyes
That leave me with a lie
Leaning poles on country roads
As the trucks go rolling by
Old cars in yards, a wind so hard
It will take your breath away
Rotting dreams and headlight beams
Turning night to day

Cold green eyes, soft warm sighs
Of the girl I've just paid
To keep me warm and calm the storm
From the mistakes that I've made
Motel rooms and the truth that looms
This is not the way to live
Lessons learned, bridges burned
I can't take more than I give

Soft leatherette, another cigarette
The last one in the pack
I can't restore what I had before
I can never bring it back
Neon bars a Dome of stars
But drink can't kill the ache
Stood outside as worlds collide
And the mist rolls off the lake

A sea of graves, Jesus saves
But he looked the other way
But just the same I called his name
Helped to keep the ghosts at bay
So if you see me passing by
A cold light in my eyes
Please toss a coin into my cup
To pay for my sunrise

The Road

Old International Harvester
Standing in the yard
Hasn't ploughed a single wheat field
Since Audi Murphy was a star
Now you're standing in the sunshine
Wondering where it all went wrong
Looking for the answers
In the bars of this old song

Blossom falls on dirt roads
Gets ground into dust
Steel ticking in the soft heat
Gently turning into rust
Somewhere over your head
In the silver shining sky
A thought you held for ever
Goes softly sliding by

You could leave here if you wanted
Pile your life in Dad's old car
But everywhere is just the same
You could never go that far
You've never said the words out loud
That would make it all too real
You don't have the strength to say
How empty you feel

He's sitting in the willow tree
Spring song sung out loud
Nothing but young and free
With the beauty of his sound
It's so good to be alive
In the glory of this day
Lift your head up, turn around
Find new songs to play

There's an old man in the market square
His life written on his skin
He said don't waste a single thought
On the ways that might have been
When years have past and time's all gone
 Like water through the sand
Don't lie there dumb and bitter
With her letter in your hand

Old International Harvester
Standing in the yard
Hasn't ploughed a single wheat field
Since Audi Murphy was a star
It's still standing in the sunshine
Waiting for the wheels to turn
Empty fields are full of weeds
Can you feel the sadness burn?

International Harvester

International Harvester Full Version

Someday

I'll lift the map off the wall
Roll it up and take it home
Perhaps it'll show the way
Someday

Distant lights that glitter
Like stars across the sea
Won't shine as bright or shimmer
Someday

You hold on to all that's yours
And then watch it slip away
Try to fill the empty hours
Someday

Someday we will breathe no more
All our lifes will be as dust
Silent waves on forgotten shores
Someday

Someday no one will know us
Neither to forget or recall
Forever and always
It will be thus

Smoke among tall green trees
Crouched beneath a fading sun
All that man has cut will heal
Someday
That old rocking horse you gave me
Faded paint and crooked grin
Will find a way to save me
Someday

Let the light shine somewhere
Chase the shadows far away
Chains of love will bind us there
Someday

Someday we will breathe no more
All our life will be as dust
Silent waves on forgotten shores
Someday

Someday no one will know us
Neither to forget or recall
Forever and always
It will be thus

The world is full of fools who lie
And walk the streets of glory
The laws of truth shall apply
Someday

Those who lust for days of fame
And fill their hands with money
Will be pulled down and washed away
Someday

Someday no one will know us
Neither to forget or recall
Forever and always it will be thus
Someday Someday

Someday we will breathe no more
All our life will be as dust
Silent waves on forgotten shores
Someday

Someday (Collaboration with Paul Vasey)

Hollow man in a shining silk suit
Holds his trophy wife
With a plastic smile and Cuban heeled boots
He burns his way through life

You were the beauty of the high school
Oiled and golden at the pool
But you gave up everything
Lost it all too soon

First in line for the tennis club pro
It's harder every day
Where did all the good time years go
Lost along the way

White powder, pills and best rose wine
To get you through the day
Adrift beyond the borderline
Where neon turns to grey

You're trapped in a house of mirrors
With walls of polished glass
You can't see beyond them
You never stood a chance

He keeps in your tower
Behind imagined doors
Just a word away from freedom
You can't feel it any more

You're not getting any younger
Only his girlfriends are
He's meaner and quick to anger
Dark glasses and face powder
Can't hide the marks

Small town girl flew too high
Where the air is cold and thin
Like his fingers on your shoulder
You still belong to him

It's time to leave this poison city
Find your way somehow
Everything that once looked pretty
Sure isn't pretty now

Red tail lights on the highway                              
Streaked by windscreen rain
Pacific ocean coastal sky-way
Takes you home again

The Hollow Man

The sky is breaking from the
Heat of the sun
That's burning the mist off the sea
Another day with you has begun
Pour your warmth over me

Sunshine woman
You are my sunshine woman
No clouds with my sunshine woman
No rain with my sunshine woman

The way that you walk  
Is like liquid sunlight
Through leaves on a summer day
Dancing across 
This old wooden floor
A beautiful ballet

Under magnolia trees
We walk hand in hand
It's one ten in the shade
Old dog's so hot
He doesn't care if it's
Fahrenheit or centigrade

There's a darkness grows
In the hearts of men
Who knows what keeps it there
You have the way
To fill me with light
A breath of sweet summer air

When winter lies deep
Hard on the dawn
Like steel inside your head
Remember the times
Our hair was bleached gold
And our days were chromium red

Sunshine Woman

Sometimes we stumble adrift from time's tether
Barely a mumble a breath on a feather
Hold out my cold hands to catch the warm rain
Shelter  from cruel words refuge from soft pain

There's a sound on the wind I can hear  the echo
Where she's gone I'll never know but I'll not forget her

Soft steps you take between all the places 
Leaves at your feet  winds of change will scatter
Sun on the  green hills lights hidden spaces
Long lost promise of an endless ever after

There's a sound on the wind I can hear  the echo
Where she's gone I'll never know but I'll not forget her

Rivers of time running to the ocean
Shifting like soft sand  beneath all the water
Shadow of  memory still just a notion
Wake from a dream on the wings of her laughter

There's a sound on the wind I can hear  the echo
Where she's gone I'll never know but I'll not forget her

Echoes

Sit down my friend and I'll sing you my song
For it is a strange affair
It's of glances cast and looks that last
Sweet perfume on the air
If you don't mind I'll take your time
For I need to tell you why
There's no time to cast aside
Or your life will pass you by

It will slip through your hands
Like trying to catch the rain
Hourglass sand
Falling grain by grain
Falling grain by grain

A young bird's cry, sun's high in the sky
Over fields of Southern Spain
I close my eyes and my memory flies
And she's here with me again

I think my life is a crooked road
That leads to who knows where
Will a stranger'smile last a while
Or leave me standing there?
Leave me standing there?
               
The first rays of dawn on a mid winter morn
Or the sounds of a summer fair
All  these things and more I can't tell
Are made for us all to share

I once had a girl who filled up my world
But I never knew how to give
I let her down like a country clown
And I'll hurt for as long as I live

Slipped Through My Hands

I can keep you out of mind in daylight
Push doubts aside
Hold  back the tide
While it stays bright
I can watch children playing in the sun
Take my ease a while
Say   the day is mine
While it still shines
Oh.............then the night comes down
Yeah...........The night comes down

My head is tumbling
My thoughts unraveling
And my legs are running
Through the rye
Old demons are chasing
My heart is racing
And the sky is falling
Down to die
Oh.............as the night comes down
Yeah...........The night comes down
       
There are long shadows on the fields
A dancer in the corn        
Hiding since I was bo
But it's not real
There are dark chapels in your eyes
A heart made of stone       
Beating on a breast of bone
Where the truth lies
Oh.............still the night comes down

Yeah...........The night comes down
My head is tumbling
My thoughts unraveling
And my legs are running
Through the rye    
Old demons are chasing
My heart is racing
And the sky is falling
Down to die
Oh.............still the night comes down
Yeah...........The night comes down

Midday heat
Air is sweet
My thoughts are slow and lazy
Midnight cold
Fears unfold
And I go a little crazy

I'm on the train that's leaving today
Just a seeker of the truth    
Searching for the proof
That's passed away
There's a headlight to cut down the dark
A blanket to keep me warm         
Waiting for the distant dawn    
To bathe me

Night Comes Down

December snow is cold on my skin
There's a hole where the truth's been blowing in
Another empty sky awakening
That old homesick feeling once again

The midday sun from a thousand sacred hours
Has bleached all the colour from the flowers
You painted on the sign by our door
But we don't walk those rooms anymore

Now I'm sitting here
Trying to explain
Why all that I have
Is this hatful of rain

A mile of golden chains cannot bind us
If I could, I'd throw away the key
Everything but the past is behind us
This is not how it was meant to be

I remember how I found you
Broken glass all around you
And the crimson spreading stain
And how I cried out your name

So take me back where the air tastes sweet
And I can feel God's earth beneath my feet
Where I can sit in my easy chair
And make believe I can see you walking there

I can feel you near
But nothing is the same
Wish I could see your face
In this hatful of rain

Hatful Of Rain(Boydie mastered)

I hear some people talkin'
They love to speculate
Are we back together
Is it all a big mistake
No, it's just a rumour
That's all it is, a rumour
Spreading all around
Just a rumour

Sun will rise tomorrow
That's what they say
But I'm not so sure
They'll be another day

It's just a rumour
That's all it is, a rumour
Spreading all around
Just a rumour

Sometimes I feel it's getting late
Running out of time to hesitate

Am I haunting all the spaces
You and I would know
Old familiar places
From a long time ago

No, it's just a rumour
That's all it is, a rumour
Spreading all around
Just a rumour

Do I go kinda quiet
At the end of the day
Thinking about the good times
How I let them slip away

No, it's just a rumour
That's all it is, a rumour
Spreading all around
Just a rumour
No, it's just a rumour
That's all it is, a rumour
Spreading all around
Just a rumour

Rumour

Yesterday I could see you were broken
The smiles that you gave were only a token
I could see in your eyes
A lifetime of lies
Meant that only the truth
Could be spoken

Yesterday is my home
Tomorrow is a place I don't know
Down dark alleyways
And grey skied days
Anywhere but here and now

Yesterday I watched the sunrise on the ocean
A memory from before was awoken
A promise that I made
A vow I betrayed
Why is regret my only
Emotion

So today I realise I was lying
To think I could save something dying
There's a handful of dust
A dry well of trust
And the stain of  the tears
You've been crying

Yesterday is my home
Tomorrow is a place I don't know
Down dark alleyways
And grey skied days
Anywhere but here and now

And tomorrow my beautyful bird will fly
Spread her wings and kiss the sky
I'm left on the ground
My world upside down
All I have is the bitter taste
Of goodbye

Yesterday is my home
Tomorrow is a place I don't know
Down dark alleyways
And grey skied days
Anywhere but here and now



Yesterday Is My Home (Remix ft Paulski on BVs)Boydie Mastered

One day soon I'll be walking
Heading east, Carolina bound
Seems forever I've been searching
For an echo of that sound
I've been chasing
Instead of facing
The truth in front of me
Clear as a blue day, Carolina bound

I'm Carolina bound
Shout at the sky
And tell me why
I'm old
The merry go round
Has stopped for good
Now I am stood
Alone

There's girl I was courting
From the country side of town
I keep a cloth for when I'm crying
Cut from her wedding gown
Those days are over
My world is colder 
She can't comfort me 
Can you tell her, I'm Carolina bound

Distant thoughts fill my mind
Like a train whistle blows
Through my brain
Ink on the page I signed
Washed on the winter shore
Clean again

It's been such a long time
Since I was Carolina bound
Fading dreams and a promise
To see the sun coming round
Atlantic daybreak
Keening Kittiwake
I've been too long away
Tomorrow I'm Carolina bound

I'm Carolina bound
Shout at the sky
And tell me why
I'm old
The merry go round
Has stopped for good
Now I am stood
Alone






Carolina Bound (Country version)

Goodbye my Cornflower Blue
A free bird that flew 
You sang for a while
In my garden

Goodluck my Cornflower Blue
Our days were few
But your taste's still sweet
On my tongue

You hated the chains
And the cold northern rain
You wanted sun on your face
In the morning

The skies were Cornflower Blue
When our love was new
Like the bright silver dew
Of September

Your eyes of Cornflower Blue
Are the deepest hue
Like the endless roll
Of the ocean

Go ahead and chase your dreams
Even when it seems
They're fading faster than you run

I loved you Cornflower Blue
I always knew
You'd carry no blame
For this leaving

I called you Cornflower Blue
You were just passing through
I was only a town
On your journey

Goodbye Cornflower Blue
A free bird that flew 
You sang for a while
In my garden

Cornflower Blue

Harbour 

I feel like a faded flag
In a cold, cold wind
Blowing on a silent sea
A witness to the world's end

My footsteps don't carry me
The way they used to
Yesterday is an empty space
That echoes and aches for you

I'm wondering where you are now
And its thundering off the port bow

I can't rest till I find her
I can't sail any farther
I need safe harbour
Through the long nights of winter
Artic storm on my shoulder
I need safe harbour

I can't see your face
Not even in my dreams
It's a ghost that I've chased
All along the gulf stream

On the shores of Maine
The pines still whisper
For she returned again
And you've just missed her

I'm wondering where you are now
And its thundering off the port bow

I can't rest till I find her
I can't sail any farther
I need safe harbour
Through the long nights of winter
Artic storm on my shoulder
I need safe harbour

Harbour

Oh my lovely girl
Let me take you down 
To where the wild garlic grows
We can sit and linger a while
And watch how the winding river flows

Feel the grass beneath our feet
Walking in the summer heat
We can share our thoughts and dreams
Running barefoot by the stream

I must  go  and fight
In a distant land
So please still remember me
My silver ring is in your hand
Our names carved on the willow tree

But if I should not return
All my letters you must burn
Find yourself another lad
To treat you right and don't be sad

I have been away
For many long years
The scars of war slow to heal
I have seen many lonely roads
Thousand miles under my wheels

I came home from foreign lands
To see you had another man
With his baby at your breast
But I will never love you less

Oh my lovely girl
Let me take you down 
To where the wild garlic grows
We can sit and linger a while
And watch how the winding river flows

Feel the grass beneath our feet
Walking in the summer heat
We can share our thoughts and dreams
Running barefoot by the stream

Where The Wild Garlic Grows

Do you wake to find your life unwind
Same picture every day
There must be more on a far off shore
Why would you want to stay?
But the road is cold, dark and old
So this is what I say
Listen hard 'cause yard by yard
It took my life away

Trucker's stops and coffee pots
A waitress trapped in time
Years of dust and old red rust
Another glass of wine
Gunmetal days, forgotten ways
To lose this soul of mine
Red leather booths and country tunes
I can't get off my mind

Fields of grain and summer rain
To wash away the dirt
But a hundred miles of frozen smiles
Can't take away the hurt
Country lanes and weather vanes
Faded in the sun
Empty barns, abandoned farms
Where wild horses run

Angry skies and false goodbyes
That leave me with a lie
Leaning poles on country roads
As the trucks go rolling by
Old cars in yards, a wind so hard
It will take your breath away
Rotting dreams and headlight beams
That turn the night to day

The cold green eyes and soft warm thighs
Of the girl that I've just paid
To keep me warm and calm the storm
From the mistakes that I've made
Motel rooms, the truth that looms
This is not the way to live
Lessons learned, bridges burned
I can't take more than I give

Soft leatherette, another cigarette
The last one in the pack
I can't restore what I had before
I can never bring it back
Neon bars a Dome of stars
But drink can't kill the ache
Stood outside as worlds collide
And the mist rolls off the lake

A sea of graves, Jesus saves
But he looked the other way
But just the same I called his name
Helped keep the ghosts at bay
So if you see me passing by
A cold light in my eyes
Please toss a coin into my cup
To pay for my sunrise

The Road 2018 (Revised Version)

Why don't you wait for me
On the green grass
Behind your parents' place
Where the wind was warm
And the tears of joy were shining on your face
When the summer storm is singing
I'm calling, wait for me

Why don't you wait for me 
At the roadside
In the rushing diesel air
Watch the trucks go roll by
And you're wondering why
Doesn't anybody care
When your faith is failing
I'm calling, wait for me

Remember when the air was still 
And the blackthorn was in bloom
The simple promise that I made
Under a silver moon

Why don't you wait for me
In the sunshine
That falls like golden rain
On the one true love
I'm thinking of
But may never see again
When the sky is burning
I'm calling, wait for me

Remember when the air was still 
And the blackthorn was in bloom
The simple promise that I made
Under a silver moon

Why don't you wait for me
On the shoreline
Where the world is dappled light
And my footsteps 
Are washed away
And the past is out of sight
When the tide is turning
I'm calling, wait for me

Wait For Me

I wonder if the wind,
Should tell of the places,
And times it has seen.
Would it know what to do?
About all the broken hearts,
It has blown through.
 
He steals through your dreams,
He knows all the secrets,
Of where you have been.
He knows what to do,
About all the emptiness,
You hold on to.

Strange affliction again,
Honey just follow the wind.
Lay your weary head down,
Upon your pillow, your eiderdown. 

Sometimes it takes a stranger
To tell you you're drowning
And point out the danger
Of zero and counting

There isn’t much time,
For you to unburden,
What’s on your mind.
He can sense you are lost,
He knows the feeling,
He knows the cost.

Strange Affliction (Lyrics by Geoff Matthews)

I'm leaving here tomorrow I'm freeing you
Please don't try to follow I guess it's true
That being lost
Is worth the cost
Of the love that we knew
The love that we knew

This world is full of strangers I'm close to you
A sea of broken faces and a thought that flew
A thousand miles
Through endless aisles
Of colours flooding through
Colours flooding through

The fading light I don't want to fight lets hold it to the sun
Hold it to the sun
You're the only one
Your cotton dress one soft caress your eyes of ocean blue
Eyes of ocean blue
I still love you
I'm holding on
Still holding on

A voice inside is calling and I want something new
Don't be sad and crying this is long overdue 
The empty days
Just tick away
Could you save me a few
Please save a few

I'm sitting in this cafe on a warm summer's day
Watching people talking but I've nothing to say
They cant't see
How it feels to be
Just drifting away  

The fading light I don't want to fight lets hold it to the sun
Hold it to the sun
You're the only one
Your cotton dress one soft caress your eyes of ocean blue
Eyes of ocean blue
I still love you
I'm holding on
Still holding on


Eyes Of Ocean Blue (Final Version)

The waitress is watching me
From the corner of the diner
On the juke box the music shifts from major
To minor
And it occurs to me
Nothing in this world is how it seems

They say the rain falls just as heavy
On the righteous as the damned
There's too many people drowning
Walking through this land
It's clear to me
That nothing in this world
Is how it seems

There's blood on the poet's stage 
The thief has paid the judges's wage
Fingers clenched in helpless rage
Just looking for the answer
Beauty is a gilded cage
Words pouring off a burning page
There's no time to re-arrange
No room for empty laughter

Your past is burning brighter
But your futures going dim
They told you it would end like this 
You didn't listen to them
So you can see that
Nothing in this world
Is how it seems

We're all scratching in the dirt
For something shinier and newer
But time is no joker
And the days are growing fewer
Listen to me
Nothing in this world
Is how it seems

Nothing In This World (Is How It Seems)

A song about a man leaving for war and asking his lover to promise to marry him when he gets back. He hopes to take strength from his memories of their time together.


Home will be a dream soon
I'm marching to the old tune
Battle flags flying in the sun
The daylight will take me
Please don't forsake me  
Keep your faith and tell everyone  
I've moved on but something remains
Listen close and keep the candle bright
My tears in the salt sea
My breath on the morning breeze
Will return if you call my name  

Won't you take my hand
Wear this sacred band
Tell me that you'll bide              
That one day I'll see my bride
One day I'll see my bride

A flower in the wildwood
A hill where the oak stood
Your green eyes shining bright and clear
Dew on the cold grass
Light where our feet passed
Days spent with you seem so near 
Tommorrow will be of steel and fray
Those memories take me from here
I'd bear all my sorrow 
If I could only borrow
A look from you on our wedding day 

Won't you take my hand
Wear this sacred band
Tell me that you'll bide              
That one day I'll see my bride
One day I'll see my bride

Days are growing shorter
There's mist on the water
Winter's coming, sun slips away
In the darkest hour
Hope can still flower
Smile and wipe away the years 
I'm like a man on a run away train
My fate is cast to the wind
The life that I made there 
Every hope, every tear 
Cupped in your hands like warm summer rain

Won't you take my hand
Wear this sacred band
Tell me that you'll bide              
That one day I'll see my bride
One day I'll see my bride


One Day I'll See My Bride

I took a drink in Murfreesbro
Now the drink has taken me
I've been running hard since Tupelo
Drinking Jack and cold coffee
A dark eyed woman out of Knoxville
Stopped and gave me a ride
I should have stayed with her forever
But that part of me has died
                       
I've fallen fast and far since Gatlinburg
The last town that I recall
Now I've got lizards on my ceiling
And long lost dreamers down the hall
The only thing that keeps me going
Down the parkways and the pikes
Is the memory of never knowing
What a good life looks like

The whiskey is seeping through my paper cup
Daylight is creeping and I know my time is up
My mother would be weeping if she could only see
The state that I've come to in this state of Tennessee

When you sing for me baby
Please keep it high and clear
The voice of an angel
To take me from here
From the bright lights of Memphis
Through the pine scented trees
I carried your face with me
All across Tennessee

The whiskey is seeping through my paper cup
Daylight is creeping and I know my time is up
My mother would be weeping if she could only see
The state that I've come to in this state of Tennessee


This State Of Tennessee

The bleachers are all standing empty
There’s a strange silence in the air
Somebody said they'd heard sirens sounding
I was too wasted to care

There's a red coupe on the driveway
Shutters are drawn against the sun
I heard a rumour on the radio
The ending had just begun

Something Wicked this way comes
It's there in a million lies
The tattooed man's been watching the skies
Waiting for the stars to align

My brother was born as a free man
Back in 1965
The last thing he said as he held out his hand
Don’t let them take me alive

The wires are humming in the July heat
Highways are rammed interstate
10 million people are moving
Something tells me it's too late

In my hotel room the shadows are talking
Back and forth in rhyme
I love to listen to the words they use
But you know I'm running out of time

The neon sign's still swinging
Screaming and banging in the night
The tubes are dead no green, yellow or red
No liquid, luminous light.

The roads now empty slick with rain
Stop lights like blood on the street
The night wind stirs the dust in my veins
Can you hear the marching feet

Something Wicked This Way Comes

On the roads not taken
And all the highways forsaken
Walk a thousand souls
You never knew

In the steel grey morning
As your mind is turning
Spare them all
A thought or two

'Cause you can't be 2 places
At one time
You've got to roll through every town
On the line
Can't turn holy water into wine
Wine

From the sands of Carolina
To the rich earth of Minnesota
Lie a million seeds
That never grew

In the bright blue sky ways
And the soft green byways
There are birds and thoughts
That never flew

Let it all go
You will never know
How close you came
To winning the game
Fire on the run
Doesn't fool anyone
You're not fooling anyone
You're not fooling anyone

All the lost people passing
Never know what they're missing
One of them is waiting
Do you know who?

Alan Walker

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