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Ellis Paul

The Ballad of Chris McCandless

He was out on the highway smiling
A mystic in torn blue jeans
The kid left his trust fund to come out walking.
He hitched across this country
backpack and a head full of dreams
Couldve sworn he heard the earth a talking.talking

[chorus 1]
Sometimes, he said, dont it feel like the concretes closing in?
Were putting bricks on the horizon
Was he chasing fools goldor a holy man walking a dirt road to the end?
I hitched a ride with Chris McCandless
Stepped in the wild of a dream

The horizon in South Dakota
Is an ocean of harvest grain
In a dusty silo we found work for the taking
Wed hitched up from California
But he never told me his real name
Never told me what past he was out here shaking
We're all shaking something...

[chorus 2]
Sometimes, he said, dont it feel like technologys closing in?
Were raising towers on the horizon
Was he chasing fools goldor a holy man walking a dirt road to the end?
I hitched a ride with Chris McCandless
Stepped in the wild of a dream

[bridge]
A stone.a patha river of glass
The night skycan you see stars from wherever you are?....wherever you are....

In a broken school bus they found him
In the heart of the Alaska range
The journey ends when the heart stops beatingtime is fleeting

Was he chasing fools gold,
Or a holy man walking a dirt road to the end?
I hitched a ride with Chris McCandless
Stepped in the wild with Chris McCandless
And I felt alive with Chris McCandless
I was wide awake in the dreamdream.

Copyright Ellis Paul Publishing SESAC