Roots of the Traveller Lyrics

Roots of the Traveller by Acoustica

Clicking the song titles above will display the song's lyrics.

Ledge

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, and M. Becknell

It's in the way that you watch
It's in the way that you care
It's in the way that you need me
It's in the way I know you're there

How could I know that you would leave me
How could I know that you would go
What did I say to make you change your mind
What did I do

From your window I see you
Pulling your curtains to the side
And you watch me in the morning grey
And I watch you hide

   from your window
     you watch
   in your window
     I see you cry

Venomosity

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, and M. Becknell

I overheard a conversation between two old friends
   as they wound their old stories around what used to be
But the one that caught my attention, I already knew the end
   as it wound around the story between you and me
     I've been here before

It started quite nicely, but went downhill from there
   as they wound up not speaking to each other anymore
There were times when it seemed that it would work out
   a brief truce for the pair
     But in the end, they were too wound up
     to forgive or forget the score

I would give anything to rewrite the verse
     to give it a new direction, a new frame
But the new road would end the same
There would be two roads, two lives, two paths, two knives
   Both would cut as deeply
     and would end the same

As their memories ended, I realized that they were
   the two characters in the stories that they wove
As their eyes met again, again they decided to try
   And they wound around each other to remember their love

Postmark Birmingham

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, M. Becknell, and J. McKinney

She always wanted me to quit smoking
Now that I have she doesn't even know
Things have changed a lot 
   since the last time she wrote
And that was near three years ago

Postmark, Birmingham, Alabama
Postmark, Birmingham, a thousand miles away
Postmark, Birmingham, there's nothing left to say
I'd like to be there anyway
   I would leave today

I still watch German movies
I still eat chow mein with a fork
I'm not looking for a job anymore
I'm trying to get some time off work

We move into the new place next week
My wife, she calls it home
Another ladder rung
   Another address change
Takes me further from

Sometime

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, and M. Becknell

I want to be alone to be alone

and when you feel the darkness
   around your face
and when you feel the darkness
   begin to chase
that's me

I know I want some time...sometimes...sometime
I need to break through the rime, to break the grey

When I'm awake I feel my way through the dark

I want to be alone to be alone
And if you know me as well as you say you do,
   you'll go

4th St. Bridge

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, and M. Becknell

I told you everything would be alright
Now I'm not so sure that I was right
     Given all the time that we've lost

Stopped at this bridge and I'm on my way down
One hand holding on, the other on my crown
     The crown of all the fools from before
     My crown of all the fools you adore

Without your loving hand in mine to guide me
   I cannot find what I've been looking for
     just some tenderness

You smile and I know you're not being kind
I know it's a goodbye smile, leaving me behind
     Leaving me a step from the edge
     Leaving me so far out on the edge
     Leaving me a step from the edge
     Leading to the 4th St. Bridge

Waterfront

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, and M. Becknell

On the waterfront
     in the rainbow zen
On the waterfront
     living now and then

She wants to run in the rain of the night
She wants to run down the pier and out of sight

On the waterfront
     in the drift wood days
On the waterfront
     following the summer haze

She wants to scream with the gulls of the dawn
She wants to scream down the pier into the foam

And she lets loose to fly
   surrounded by the dawn
She feels the flight in her eyes
   and crashes to the foam

For that lonely brief time
   she was part of the sky
She felt the flight in her eyes
   on the waterfront again

Telempathy

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, and M. Becknell

Strange electrical powers give me strength
   now since they've died
I know what you're thinking
   before it even crosses your mind
Feels like I'm living in 1984
   all communication is gone
'Cause I know all the truths inside
   when the lies are said and done

   Do you feel a little exposed 
     to the light that fills your eyes
   and blinds the way that you wanted to go

They didn't make it out alive
   they left me to find my way
I'm my only guide to understanding
   what people say
Feels like I'm giving it all too much attention
   obeying the rules
Following the way of kings and queens
   and princes and fools

Master of the mystics
   Emperor to the thoughtful throne
If you don't like what I'm doing
   please don't say something
     different than you're thinking
'Cause I know what you're doing
   I'm the private eye of your mind
Keeper of the truths to what you feel inside

Swingin' Door

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, M. Becknell, and J. McKinney

I think it was Boston, I didn't care
From what I remember
   could've been anywhere
Maybe Dublin, or gay Paris
I needed a drink
   It didn't matter much to me

Under the neon, through the swingin' door
I knew at once I'd never seen her face before
I bellied up to the bar for a while
She looked away
   I shook my head and said with a smile

I'm wasting my life
I can't find a lover, and I don't want a wife

Didn't say a word, she just fixed my drink
I gave her a light, she gave me a wink
I wanted to know her, even just her name
She'd have left me for dead
But I'd have loved her just the same

She's got looks that could kill
   and a gun that will
     and a Louisville Slugger behind the bar

A pool player looked up, he sized up me
He looked at her and he sighed knowingly
If I'd have known what he meant by that sigh
I'd have never given her the chance
   to slap my face and say goodbye

Thomas

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, and M. Becknell

Cross my heart and hope to die
   Will you ever believe in me
Cross my heart, stick a needle in my eye
   Lend me the benefit and doubt for free

Give me some time to show you what I mean to you
Give me some time to defend my honor to you

If you had looked in front of you
   You would have seen it there all the time
If you had known it was that easy to do
   Things would have worked out just fine

If you ever want to hear from me
All you got to do is believe
Believe in me

Cross my heart and hope to die
   Will you ever believe in me
Cross my heart, stick a needle in my eye
   Lend me the benefit and doubt for free
Lend me the benefit of your doubt for free
Give it up, give it up for free, just like me

Carried on the Wind

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, and M. Becknell

From the moment that he learned that she was gone
He began to remember all the wonderful things they'd done
And the things that she wanted to be when she grew old
ended before they started
and he felt his heart grow cold

And then the wind began to blow and on it he heard her voice
Sweet as he remembered telling him he had a choice
He could either dwell on the past
Or he could choose to see her
Still alive in the world they'd had

The wind said:
   Do not stand at my grave and weep
     I am not there, I do not sleep
   Do not stand at my grave and cry
     I am not there, I did not die

From the moment that he heard what the wind had said
That she was not alive because he had thought her dead
And if he remembered
And if he did his part
She would live forever
Forever within his heart

Because the wind said:
   Do not stand at my grave and weep
     I am not there, I do not sleep
   I am a thousand winds that blow
   I am the diamond glints on snow
   I am the sunlight on ripened grain
   I am the gentle autumn's rain
     When you waken in the morning's hush
     I am the sweet uplifting rush
   Of quiet birds in circled flight
     I am the soft star
       that shines at night
   Do not stand at my grave and cry
     I am not there, I did not die

ripple

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, and M. Becknell

It is so simple to pretend that you're near
The pebble creates a ripple larger than itself
When my thoughts are bent in your direction
Gentle waves get sent from where they fell

roll away then ripple again

When the waves reach the shore to kiss where you stand
The ripple becomes a roar and echoes away
To find somewhere else to come to rest
To find someone to tell of its wave

I see your reflection marred by the ripple
I see your affection flow again

Coming Home

by J. Brunner, S. Lee, and M. Becknell

Rough shod and riding through the Cumberland gap
I'm on my way back to Boston
   Back to where I began
I'm coming home, back from the westland
The land that is wild and free
I never made my fortune, but that is alright with me

'Cause the sky is wider
The stars are brighter
   and I found someone to share it with me
     I'm coming home

Her grandfather said that he saw in me
A spirit that runs through the darkness
   a spirit on a darkling sea
When he gave me the hand
   of the daughter of his son
He stared into my soul
   and made our two spirits one

Now the two have been made into one
   mine like the moon in the darkness
     and hers like the sun
Hand in hand through the Cumberland
   across the Appalachian Divide
I'm on my way back to Boston
   riding through the night

This page was last updated on March 3, 2004 by Kristi Wachter.