Birds Of Flims

Damn if I didn't just go walking and find some horses
 A man-made lake and some trees
 Came back to my room all covered in sweat
 Here at the Swiss Waldhaus Hotel
 Filled out an application for a work visa
 For Japan and Australia
 It's been a few weeks since I've left home
 And I feel out of place
 And out of my element
 I work from 7 at night
 Until 5 AM when the AD says "Wrap"
 And a runner named Fabio flashlights me back to my hotel before the sun comes up
 Then I get in my bed and talk with my girl on the phone to the birds chirping
 How the hell did I end up playing myself in an Italian film
 Set in a ski town in Switzerland?
 Damn if I didn't just go walk in the yard, so alone on [?]
 I felt like Jimmy Page walking the mountains out behind Aleister Crowley's house
 It was too dark, and it got so cold
 That I turned back around
 Came back to my room, read Graham Nash's Wild Tales
 Til I fell asleep to the sound
 The sound of the birds
 The birds of Flims
 Yeah I've asked around
 But nobody knows the names of 'em
 Of the birds
 The birds of Flims
 Yeah I've asked around
 But nobody knows the names of 'em
 Damn if I didn't just go walking down the road
 When a girl named Veronica stopped me
 She said she was from Milan and that she recognized me from the film
 And that today was her birthday
 We talked a little bit
 But there was a barrier
 And she went one way and I went the other
 And I walked along the dandelions and down to market
 Where I bought her some flowers
 On the way back to my hotel
 I left them in the lobby of hers, with a note
 "Veronica, happy birthday - Mark"
 And when I saw her again on the set
 She said "Grazie", and I could tell the gesture
 Had touched her heart
 Damn if I didn't go to dinner last night with Paul
 But his throat was sore
 And I could see that he was feeling ill
 He spends more time on the set than I do
 And it's cold out there
 And the last two days, he was playing Hitler
 I could see he was grappling with that
 And I felt bad, and I gave him some words of support
 And we talked about John Hughes movies, home ownership
 And the cost of living in San Francisco and New York
 And damn if I didn't go out later with a set dresser or something like that
 Name said "Brianna"
 We talked for four hours at a bar down the street
 And the music was terrible
 But yeah, I liked her, kinda
 She's been with someone for four or five years
 And I kinda figured that anyhow, and told her "Well, so have I"
 And that made life easier for both of us
 And I walked her drunk ass back to her room
 And like a gentleman, I didn't try
 And I went to my room
 I looked down at the waterfront
 From my balcony I felt
 The surrealness of my surroundings
 I got in my bed
 Looked up at the baby blue ceilings above
 And thought of my home
 And my girl
 And I ached for her love
 Damn when it all ended
 If I didn't have them fly me out
 To New Orleans
 Where I saw kitty cats sleeping on porches
 And drank real iced tea for the first time in six to eight weeks
 It was nice not having to walk down that awkward path again
 And not to have to yell [?]
 About eating pasta pomodoro for the 38th time in a month
 If its price [?] was 60 Swiss fuckin' francs
 Damn if I didn't go walking the next afternoon
 Down Oretha Castle
 I ate a catfish lunch at Cafe Reconcile
 With a side of macaroni and cheese
 And cornbread and collard greens
 Saw it advertised on channel 99
 The public access channel
 And I walked across the street to a gym
 And I watched two fighters spar
 And I talked to them during their break
 While they sipped on their Snapple
 And I thought, what is life if not a fight?
 Or a test of will and grace
 Some would match it by throwing bombs like Mike Tyson
 But some, like Pernell, are slippery [?]
 Some are fearless like Gatti
 But like Henry Akinwande
 Some of them buckle and stall
 When the going gets tough, with much due respect
 Some of them break down and cry
 Like Oliver "The Atomic Bomb" McCall
 Life's a chess game for all of us
 Hit, don't be hit, jab and hook and feint and bob and weave
 When the fighters got back in the ring
 I thought of my own fight in life
 And it was time to be leaving
 And damn if I didn't go to the airport
 And fly up to Cleveland, Ohio
 I had dinner at Sylvester's in North Canton with my girlfriend and her friends
 And for the first time in a while
 I was surrounded by genuine smiles (beautiful smiles)
 There at the table with all of them, I felt content
 And grounded and rooted again
 And was dropped off to face the hardships
 Of a single mom who happens to be one of my closest and dearest friends
 Fell asleep in her spare room to the sound of crop dusters
 And cars on the highway
 Back to my roots where unconditional love
 Rules over everything
 And I could no longer hear the birds of Flims