Track Insight / Lyrics
Meter's off but the engine runs warm
Rain taps the roof in a steady form
See him pacing the pedestrian lane
Grey coat buttoned against the rain
He walks the grates where the cables sing
Salt in his fingers, rust on the ring
Fog rolls thick but his step stays true
This span holds firm 'cause he sees it through
Forty years I read the channel marks
Now I count the rivets in the dark
Tide still pulls at my weathered knees
But the deck don't move beneath the breeze
He walks the grates where the cables sing
Salt in his fingers, rust on the ring
Fog rolls thick but his step stays true
This span holds firm 'cause he sees it through
Fare asked me once what he's waiting for
Said the bridge remembers more than the shore
Every truck that shudders across the steel
Wakes the ghosts of the engines I used to steer
He walks the grates where the cables sing
Salt in his fingers, rust on the ring
Fog rolls thick but his step stays true
This span holds firm 'cause he sees it through
Midnight fog swallows the navigation lights
Radio static through the long winter nights
But he knows each vibration in the cable's hum
Like a mother knows the rhythm of her baby's drum
Coast Guard offered a pension and plaque
I chose the catwalk, the wind, the crack
Of dawn on water, the horn's low moan
This iron backbone is the only home I've known
He walks the grates where the cables sing
Salt in his fingers, rust on the ring
Fog rolls thick but his step stays true
This span holds firm 'cause he sees it through
Taxi pulls away, the meter stays dark
Old salt keeps the watch, makes his final mark
