Lyrics for Another Travelin' Song as interpreted by SavesTheNight

Another Travelin' Song Lyrics
Well I'm changing all my strings
I'm gonna write another travelin' song
About all the billion highways
And the cities at the break of dawn

Well, I guess the best that I can do now
Is pretend that I done nothing wrong
And a dream about a train that's gonna
Take me back where I belong

Well, now the ocean speaks and spits
And I can hear it from the interstate
And I'm screaming at my brother on a cell phone
He is far away

I'm saying nothing in the past or future
Ever will feel like today
Until we're parking in an alley
Just hoping that our shit is safe

So I go back and forth forever
All my thoughts they come in pairs
Oh, I will, I won't, I do, I don't
I'm not surprised
But I never feel quite prepared

Now I'm hunched over a typewriter
I guess you'd call that painting in a cave
And there's a word I can't remember
And a feeling I cannot escape

And now my ashtray's overflowing
I'm still staring at a clean white page
Oh, and morning's at my window
And she is sending me to bed again

Well, I dreamed a dark on the horizon
I dreamed a desert where the dead lay down
I dreamed a prostituted child
Touching an old man in a fast food crowd

I dreamed a ship was sinking
There was people screaming all around
And I awoke to my alarm clock
It was a pop song, it was playing loud

So I will find my fears and face them
I will cower like a dog
I will kick and scream
I will kneel and plead
I'll fight like hell, to hide that I'm giving up

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plasticflowers
12-31-2004

Rated 0 
A few minor corrections, I think:

"and I'm sayin' nothing in the past or future ever will feel LIKE today"

"all my thoughts, THEY COME IN PAIRS"

"I'm not SURPRISED, but I never feel quite prepared"

"I will kick and scream or kneel and PLEAD"

I don't think it's "I DOUBT, I don't", but I'm not entirely sure what it actually is. I do? I die?

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ctspectator
01-02-2005

Rated 0 
this is off wide awake its morning the cd is really good hard to explain the difference between this and other albums there is i think it is great though

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brokenspoons
01-25-2005

Rated 0 
"I will fight like hell to hide that I’m giving up"

I'M WIDE AWAKE AND DIGITAL ASH CAME OUT TODAY! Woot.

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Hillsonn
01-27-2005

Rated 0 
does anyone catch the possible reference to conor's old song "drunk kids catholic"


They crawl from the oceans
To paint in the caves


i dont know, maybe im looking to far into it.

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a fond farewell
01-27-2005

Rated 0 
Hillsonn ...

yessss. i agree. i think maybe it means realeasing your thoughts..

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my_own_parasite
01-29-2005

Rated 0 
ooh nice observation hilsonn, i would have never caught that.

I absolutely love the ending line:
"I'll fight like hell to hide that I've given up"

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bleedingmaskarah
01-31-2005

Rated 0 
i think he said at the concert this was about the ny subway..??

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my_own_parasite
02-06-2005

Rated 0 
the song about the ny subway is train under water

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clippy.hanger
02-08-2005

Rated 0 
It's parking in an ALLEY,
and also "I DO, I don't."

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clippy.hanger
02-08-2005

Rated 0 
It's parking in an ALLEY,
and also "I DO, I don't."

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astral_heroin
02-16-2005

Rated 0 
Conor himself said this one is about "Driving around, and playing music for people" You can listen to it online, about 50 minutes into the archived BE concert on npr.com

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astral_heroin
02-16-2005

Rated 0 
Oh, by the way. If you can't transcribe the lyrics accurately with good grammar and punctuation, you might as well leave it to somebody who can do it right.

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an ocean of doubt
03-10-2005

Rated -2 
fuck this song.

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afriendofbillyp
08-10-2005

Rated 0 
When it says,
"And I'll go back and forth forever,
All my thoughts they come in pairs."
I think he might be saying (in a very clever way) that he can't make up his mind about something. Or at least he is saying he sees both sides of an issue.

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stereo fan
12-09-2005

Rated 0 
even though its already been mentioned im going to mention how much i love and relate to the closing line, "i'l fight like hell to hide that i've given up" I think that it really portrays the panic and desperation of someone that has completely given up and lost hope, when i hear that line i think of a hurt dog thats been backed into a corner thats fighting to stay alive...yeah, anyway.

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cptnjess
02-01-2006

Rated 0 
I like the typewriter being compared to painting in a cave. Just an interesting metaphor.

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backwater
02-23-2006

Rated 0 
it's about touring...being exhausted...how the glamour isn't everything, and it's not necessarily as good as it looks....

but still, i think the end, where he yells, "i fight like hell to hide that i'm giving up" is the most inspirational line ever....

i am in flippin glove with Bright Eyes. Best group of all time ever.

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Tom_999
02-24-2006

Rated 0 
i've written a poem:
conor oberst is an alcoholic
a chain smoker
and a coke-head
he's also a fucking genius
enough said

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imgunnin4u
03-19-2006

Rated 0 
tom_999,
i love you.
ha.
i love this song! it really hits home, since i travel so much,
and i write alot while i travel, too.
conor's awwwesome :)

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misskitty
03-24-2006

Rated 0 
afriendofbillyp, i think you're right. i think he's saying that he's caught between two possible truths but can't decide which is the real truth.
he's agnostic, and the main thing about agnostics is that know there's a God, but they don't know if he's good or bad or what role he plays in everything. and usually they struggle with it.

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FarewellMyHell
03-30-2006

Rated 0 
"I'm Fight Like Hell, To Hide That I'm Giving Up." Love that sentence, It's so f**in' brilliant.

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pluto
04-06-2006

Rated 0 
awesome song, but i dont like the chick singing in it
her voice makes it sound a lil too country, in my opinion

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nursejen
04-08-2006

Rated 0 
Love the song. I actually like the backup vocals--pretty sure it's Emmylou Harris.
"...I dreamed a ship was sinking, there was people sreaming all around, and I awoke to my alarm clock, it was a pop song and it was playing loud". I'm not positive, but I think he may be talking about a Tragically Hip song where the guy is dreaming about a ship sinking and all the people in the water were screaming as they drowned. I mean, how clever is that?

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caffeination
05-28-2006

Rated 0 
Hillsonn--

that painting in a cave lyric that keeps popping up is talking about the primitive nature of man. in drunk kids catholic, "they crawl from the oceans to paint in the caves" shows evolution and the following lyric, "but i'm working all weekend i need to get paid" shows the irony in it all. it's as if human kind has come so far only to become obsessed with trivial things such as money. "now i'm hunched over a typewriter, i guess you call that painting in a cave" is funny because of the typewriter being a more primitive form of writing as opposed to computers, conor kindof adds a pun to the line with that. but mainly he's detailing the hard work he's enduring to comunicate a message to others, similarly to cavemen "painting" as a form of communication through symbols. he's comparing his primitivity to that of all mankind by saying we are all trying to comunicate and connect with others for our whole lives, though ultimately we end up alone.

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ckad79
06-07-2006

Rated 0 
mmm. Call me crazy, but I think this ties a lot into the meaning behind "Land Locked Blues" about feeling indifferent about your views and who you are. In "LLB", I think Conor is referring to being anti-war and against Bush, coming back home to the midwest and feeling different. The midwest being a very right-wing Conservative part of America. In this song, Another Travelin' Song, what I get out of it... is the same thing, traveling from town to town, and seeing America from all angels of rich and poor, and this country that often seems gluttent and spoiled, changes him because he's tired of fighting with himself:

Well, I guess the best that I can do now
Is pretend that I done nothing wrong
And a dream about a train that's gonna
Take me back where I belong

and

So I will find my fears and face them
I will cower like a dog
I will kick and scream
I will kneel and plead
I'll fight like hell, to hide that I'm givin' up

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