I am Hemingway, at the end of June, in Ketchum, Idaho
I am socially awkward, I am insecure and it begins to show
That I am traumatised and I’m growing steadily paranoid
A man might not face defeat, but he can be destroyed
I dream of lions and I dream about the sea –
I dream of home wherever it may be
And you say, it’s ok – I got your back, Hemingway
Serve one master through the night and another through the day
And don’t forget: You’re Hemingway.
I stay up all night in a run-down bar somewhere by the sea
A stroke of my pen, will reveal what’s best and worst in me
When I close my eyes I still wander through the desert dust
And I see generations lost in self-indulgence and in rampant lust
And I dream of Paris and I dream about Marie
I dream of home wherever it may be
And you say, it’s ok – I got your back, Hemingway
You keep thinking larger thoughts but we can go the shorter way
But don’t forget: You’re Hemingway.
Sometimes I’m Kafka, and I’m not ashamed to say I wish to die
Arrest me, transform me, deny me, and don’t even tell me why
But it feels like all the doors that I want to walk through are closing up on me
Even in a state of bliss I don’t what life is supposed to be.
Oh I dream of dying when it feels like all hope is forlorn
But despite that I would time and again chose to be born.
And you say hey, it’s ok – I got your back, Hemingway
No matter what life throws at us, there is a place for us to stay
And I begin to understand that things will turn out ok.
If there’s a bar and there’s a drink, James will not be far away
And I will live to see another day
As the sun begins to show over Ketchum, Idaho.
Music & Lyrics by John Allen.