Most of the b-sides on the Transmission project were very old indeed, and this is no exception - it was started in about 2003 or 2004, and wasn't finished until 2012. I completely forgot about having written it, and could never really get the hang of the original demo version, which I think was maybe just a bit too dark for its own good.
Simon had always pushed it as a track that might have some potential, and I'd been trying for years to work it into a finished product. Then, late in 2011, I was living in Los Angeles and contemplating where life was taking me, and everything just seemed to fall into place. As it turned out, it's actually one of my favourite tracks of recent times - if we'd finished it a year earlier it might have even made it onto the album.
The lyrics:
Only you can bring me home now
The horizon is black again
All that time I hoped to wander
Every chance is built on pain
As the light fades into night
There's nothing left inside
Sometimes it's hard when the road goes nowhere
Every step leads you astray
Sometimes the signs point in all directions
Boulders fall into the way
Souvenirs are all I have now
Postcards of another town
When I left, my route was clearer
On until the sun went down
Now it's straight, and through the sand
This highway never ends
Sometimes it's hard when the road goes nowhere
Every step leads you astray
Sometimes the signs point in all directions
Boulders fall into the way
While my vision fades and burns
I've no drive to return
Sometimes it's hard when the road goes nowhere
Every step leads you astray
Sometimes the signs point in all directions
Boulders fall into the way
Sometimes it's hard when the road goes nowhere
Every step leads you astray
Sometimes the signs point in all directions
Boulders fall into the way
(R. Martin / S. Martin)
