Story Behind The Song

The first time i toured the U.S. a gilr boarded the same greyhound bus as me in tears about ten hours into a 24hour greyhound bus journey. She later told me her life story over the course of about eight hours. Her enduring strength and love for people despite unbelievable hardships inspired this song.

Song Description

While traveling across the U.S. for the first time, our wounded hearted narrator has a chance encounter with a stranger on a bus who teaches him about hope, love and the heart's capacity for regeneration.

Lyrics

Kalamazoo
I met a girl from Kalamazoo, it's a real place,
I know, cos I passed through,
On a greyhound bus heading north from you,
I'd never been so far from the sea.
She said, do you mind if I sit here a while,
I've got ten hours left, I don't know, and she smiled.

She said everyone knows that it's not always fair
The people you care for can let you down,
Everyone knows that it's not always fair,
And that the people you care for can let you down.
But hope wears strange clothes,
And shows up on your door in your darkest hour.

Waking up on couches in other peoples homes,
I'm sick of missing you and broken telephones,
I was cold and cranky, in and out of dreams
I was reading a book about birds, a book you said I should read.

She said, everyone knows how this story goes,
I'm going to change the ending I swear.
Everyone knows how these stories close,
I'm going to change the ending I swear...
But hope wears strange clothes
And shows up on your door in your darkest hour.


She said, you know I don't care much for words
No I've seen them twisted and I've felt them turned
By the very ones from whom I learned,

That it's not always fair, that the people you care for can let you down
No, it's not always fair and the people you care for can let you down,
But hope where's strange clothes and shows up on your door in your darkest hour

I met a girl from Kalamazoo,
I was reading about birds,
But I was thinking about you.