Talking to myself in a land locked parking lot
Cough drop dripping from my mouth like a long shot
My writers block ink, oh

Sick of all the small talk dripping non-stop
From the open mouth graves of the faux-hawk cinderblock malls
My blood clot pen, oh

Maybe I could break clean
Maybe I could break clean

When I'm on your shore again
I can feel the ocean
I can feel your open arms
Like pure emotion

I'm finally free again
Like my own explosion
When I'm on your shore again
I can feel the ocean

Saltwater running through my veins like a blind spot,
Like I got caught, saltwater like a tear drop
With a saltwater heart, oh

It's an abstract thought but I've been thinking non-stop
About the fact that my body's made most out of rain drops
With a saltwater heart, oh

Maybe I could wash clean
Maybe I could wash clean
All land locked dreams
Maybe I could believe

I can feel the ocean




Behind the Song:
"Long have you timidly waded holding a plank by the shore,
Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,
To jump off in the midst of the sea, rise again, nod to me, shout, and laughingly dash with your hair."
- Walt Whitman

Saltwater is a song about longing. On tour, I often feel brittle and thirsty for substance. Far from shore, far from home- the ink dries up, and the blood begins to clot. I begin to feel like a sojourner longing for home, wanting to be washed clean of the dust of travel. And yet there is a deeper longing. A spiritual longing that no physical location can give me- not even my hometown. Saltwater is a song that is trying to speak to both of these longings at once: longings of my physical being and the longings of my soul.
-- Jon Foreman