Tourist

This song always makes me want to hear the entire album all over again :-).

This song is amazing. Also, first!

Anyhow,... this song's deep.

i feel like this song is a metaphor for not feeling like you belong anywhere, which is what everyone feels at some point in their life. amazing song, cant wait to see julian live!

i feel like this song is a metaphor for not feeling like you belong anywhere, which is what everyone feels at some point in their life. amazing song, cant wait to see julian live!

OFFICIAL LYRICS (juliancasablancas.com)

I wish that clouds could hold me up like I thought as a child growing up I wish I could sound as soothing as the rainfall But I am only a drop from the storm.

I feel like a tourist out in the country Once this whole world was all countryside Feel like a tourist in the big city Soon I will simply evaporate

...They took the strings up north, the drums down south After they crossed Afghanistan a long time ago You're shuffling your feet into the next dimension Soon skyscrapers will be everywhere

I feel like a tourist lost in the suburbs Soon the whole world will be urban sprawl Feel like a land lover out on the ocean Feel like a teardrop streaming off your chin

Some will bet against you, try even to prevent you But not many can stop you man, if you got a perfect plan Can they possibly try - I demand to know why they would doubt you? In this hand, a thousand generations...

Feel like a tourist out in the desert. So hot it feels like the Devil's breath Feel like a tourist out in the swampland This world is just patches of water and land Everywhere I go I'm a tourist, But if you stay with me, I'll always be at home

This song is fantastic, this album is fantastic. The more I listen to it, the more I am captured by the melody and the lyrics.

I really like this song, despite its depressing qualities..

It's interesting how he start off the song with a swinging 8th-note feeling, and then comes in with standard 8th note hip-hop high hat. It's a very cool contrast.. never heard it before..

I'm guessing this song is about how when he is away from, or broken up with ,his lover, he's completely lost and doesn't find the sense of comfort anywhere he may be..

Well written...

Oh, and be careful of the gain-guitar solo... it can really get stuck in your head and will haunt you haaha I've been suffering from it for a while Go Julian!

I feel in this song he's talking about being a drop of rain...

The line that makes me think this is:

"Soon I will simple evaporate"

Rain evaporates...

I don't know, maybe it's just me.

i think the main concept of the song is the idea of, loneliness and feeling lost with know sense of direction without someone and feeling completely content and fearless with that person.

however this year i have been studying the novel "the kite runner" at school and if feels almost the first few verses refer to the novel and carry similar themes from the novel

"I wish that clouds could hold me up like I thought as a child growing up I wish I could sound as soothing as the rainfall But I am only a drop from the storm."

• after an incident in the book the main character wishes to be good again, and wishes to feel the innocence he felt as a child before the incident even though he didn't realize he wasn't the most innocent child as he was sometimes mean to his best friend "like I thought as a child growing up" . He feels he is a bad person (a drop from the storm?). The verse seems to be about redemption which is the main theme of the kite runner. "clouds could hold me up" could also refer to symbolism of the kite running and how running the kite in the clouds- with his best friend(the someone who makes him content and not feel lost)was something that made the main character feel happy

"I feel like a tourist out in the country Once this whole world was all countryside Feel like a tourist in the big city Soon I will simply evaporate" one of the novel's famous quotes is "i feel like a tourist in my own country" which may have stemmed the main idea of the song. However in the book he feels like a tourist because his home country, Afghanistan, has changed due to war and taliban ruling. So I feel this verse relates more closely to Julian's personal feelings of 'feeling like a tourist'.

"They took the strings up north, the drums down south After they crossed Afghanistan a long time ago You're shuffling your feet into the next dimension Soon skyscrapers will be everywhere"

the references of Afghanistan relates to the setting of the book as the main characters home town is Afghanistan. he moves however to San Francisco a city with 'skyscrapers'. Also we know from the meaning of Julian's music video "11th dimension", the idea of becoming a better person, listening to your wholesome good conscience, will lead you on to the next dimension. And so i connect this to the main character in the kite runner, listening to his good conscience to finally seek redemption. After he seeks redemption, his guilt is no longer relentless so he is in the "next dimension" a better place in his mind. The character also seems lost without his best friend, and found when he is united with his best friends son.

Ultimately I doubt Julian wrote this song purposely relating so close to the book, but it just reminds me a lot of it. I've noticed him using references before so it would be cool if he had made some with 'the kite runner'.

but the song must relate to redemption and following a good conscious, and the idea of feeling lost without someone and found with them

"In this hand, a thousand generations"

This single lyric is probably the most important in the entire album. With these few words it says that with your own hands, there is an immense amount of potential and possibility. To create, to destroy --- it's up to you. But know the choices you make today bear the responsibility of countless generations into the future.

"This hand has the potential to mold our future. Think wisely about how you decide to use it."