Amherst Chimes Lyrics

They came into the village

From Philadelphia

To see what they don't show you

The real America

They put the car in H

It was meant to be a Jeep

One flight-sick in the footwell

One driving through the sleep

He says "where am I?"

"Where am I?"

"Well I think I'm in the valley

That my head goes to at night

Am I just a tourist

Or have I found my hiraeth?

I don't know

I don't know

I don't rightly know"

He drives into the night with this in tow

And the sun comes up 6 hours into the future

In the place where the worries hide

And terminal fog is never-ending

Ohio, Iowa and Hawaii

Are deaf to their good times

The travelling companions

Only hear the Amherst chimes

One musing on ambition

Says "Home Depot's not for work.

I'd rather dress as lady Liberty

And dance along to Kraftwerk

'Vitamin'

'Vitamin'

And when I heard 'Poison Arrow'

In the candle factory

You'll forgive me for assuming

That our plane fell in the sea

Is this paradise?

Could be paradise

Have I realised

You can be there while you're still alive?"

The root beer washes out all their confusion

To leave more of its own

Just like the Wiggatons and artwork

A lion leaves a footprint in the snow

With a second far behind

But the travelling companions, they don't mind

There's a whole life up ahead of them to worry

And work out who they are

They left all their fears in Terminal 3

Ohio, Iowa and Hawaii

Ohio, Wyoming, and Hawaii

Are deaf to their good times

The travelling companions only hear

Amherst chimes

Our intrepid heroes only hear

Amherst chimes