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This is another song about long distances, which seems to be a common thread throughout this album.
I recorded the basic guitar parts at home and had 2 verses written, with the last verse and chorus instrumental. A couple of months later, I was staying in a hotel room in Sacramento and had to do a mix of it the next day, so I felt pressure to finish the rest of the song. I kept a notebook by my bed and floated in and out of sleep, scribbling things in the dark by the light of my cellphone. Around dawn, I bolted up and finished it… basically in a dream state.
Lyrics
If your heart's a red balloonthat you must follow
sailin' over seas of yesterday
and tomorrow
Seven seas
several tears
from two eyes
that want you here
you chase your dreams around
they take you far from town
and I'm dead weight that
weighs you down
If my pride's a bitter pill
that I must swallow
It's better me than you
that's left here feeling hollow
Bitter sweet
is better than
truth decay with the
candyman
the taste is sad but sweet
like geometry
we're two lines
that'll never meet
If my love's a dead cocoon
that you must shed soon
and now that you can fly
your fear of heights is dead too
Boys chase girls who chase butterflies
who chase red balloons who chase better skies
I've known it all along
takes me one whole song
Red Balloons know
where they belong
You made something soo sad sound so sweet.