Bus 152
(EABEBE / capo 7)

To the thrill of tens of people, I had just released my first solo album, "More than Watchmen", and had read John Krakauer's book, Into the Wild, in April '99. I've always been influenced by relationship stories of father and son. Between April 10 - May 1, 1999 I wrote my version of this now legendary folk tale that Krakauer researched. But I was more interested in the father's thoughts once he found out that his son, Christopher, had died needlessly. The relationship between father and son is a fine line, it seems. Habits are deeply rooted and hard to break. For good and bad, whether we like it or not, we are often the spitting image of the man who reared us. You can change your name, but you can never change the truth.......

Sidenote: if you've read the book then you've probably noticed that the bus number is actually 142, not 152. A mere oversight on my part. I plead the 5th. It wasn't until AFTER I recorded it for "Land of the Living" that I noticed my "error". Either way, I like the way "152" sounds when it rolls off the tongue because of the inflection.

i couldn't sleep, i could barely breathe
my son was bracing for a coming freeze
a wilderness wind, a flood of fright
did ever he doubt my love that night?

light a match, start a flame
don't die cold even if you die blamed
did you hug your knees? did you cry when
you realized you'd never be here again?

you ran away from me
i didn't go after you
demands don't bring pennance
like i thought they would

run away, try to disappear
this, you thought, would end a world of fears
hunkered down, trenches dug
neither of us giving ground, neither of us willing to budge

you left one day but you never wrote
your mother worried herself sick that she nearly broke
we should've had it out, resolved our feud
instead you died here starving on bus 152

you ran away from me
i didn't go after you
demands don't bring pennance
like i thought they would

don't let summer mild deceive you
you can change your name but you can't change the truth...