From the recording San Antonio (Acoustic Version)

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I did a lot of walking on a trip to San Antonio which came during a time where I was about to have hard conversations and go through significant changes in my life. Going for long walks when traveling is a great way to see new places and it also allows for good time to think. It makes me feel more alive. On this trip, I spent a lot of time walking along the river in San Antonio while thinking and worrying. I most appreciated the river areas outside of the main downtown riverwalk area. Below are some pictures from this trip.

When I was starting to come up with song ideas that would eventually lead to my first album, I realized that I needed to try to write a song about San Antonio because of how impactful that time was in my life. The first thing that I did was sit down at the drums and the beat came to me. It sounded like a San Antonio kind of beat, so I recorded it on my phone.

Next, I picked up the guitar to play along with the beat and the initial ideas for the verse parts came out pretty quickly. However, it took a few months to flesh out the lyrics. I changed the lyrics to the chorus (or is it a bridge?) part a few times to make them more metaphorical and less specific. The part about the Alamo being on fire comes from the fact that there was a huge fire downtown during the trip, which was sort of symbolic, though it wasn’t actually at the Alamo.

In the end, the song is a simple, straightforward and fairly upbeat way to present a story about what was a complex and challenging experience. I’m not sure why it ended up being like that; maybe it says something about who I am as a person and how I tend to share with others versus what I internalize. This version is the acoustic version, which has a different feel and it supports the lyrics in a different way.

As with all of the songs on my debut album, I wrote, performed, recorded and mixed myself it in my 104 year-old house.

Lyrics

Well I’m walkin' down the river in San Antone
And I’m wondering what to say to you when I get home
And I’m hoping that this old river will let me know

Well I’m walkin' down the river in San Antone
And I’m wondering where the hell it all went wrong
And I’m waiting for this old river to let me know

Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Well I’m walkin' down the river in San Antone
And th
ere’s fire coming from the Alamo
And I’m hoping that I can make it to let them know

Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

When the sun goes down in Texas
I wanna leave it all behind
I’ve been looking for a magic spell to make me change my mind
When the levee walls have broken
And the water’s rolling by
There’s nothing left for me to do except to say goodbye

Well I’m walkin' down the river to San Antone
And I’m headed for a place that I don’t know
And I’m hoping that this old river will bring me home

Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh