Tim Baker described ‘Spirit’ as a song about “being a musician in St. John’s.” The song was performed outdoors at Nullatatok Bay, Nunatsiavut as part of the Students on Ice initiative in 2016, and then again in 2018 as part of a Lawnya Vawnya Songwriter’s Residency, before being released on Baker’s...
[Verse 1]
Slide like a spirit down the same old roads
You've been haunting these hills since the morning you were born
Now the cracks in the pavement are the cracks in your heart
You go over the same old faults every time you walk to the bar
Ain't you wet when you get there, whether rain or tears or sweat?
And the wind shaking the panes, it's the same as in your chest
[Chorus]
Yes, it's the same out there
As it is in here
It's the same out there
As it is in here
[Verse 2]
And why should it be different, should it be anything but that?
Should we open our mouths and spit out California sand?
We sing what we're given into a piece of shit PA
We sing "Grey Foggy Day," we sing "No Change in Me"
Yeah, but it's arm in arm in arm and ain't it loud enough to stun?
Hearing them all heaving along to the one same song
[Chorus]
Oh, is it the same out there
As it is in here?
Is it the same over there
As it is down here?
[Bridge]
So pull your cloak around me now
Pull your cloak around me now
Pull me close and keep the cold night out
Oh, lean into me
So you're near to me now
Once a stranger to me, but
Now you're the song in my mouth
[Outro]
And you slide like a spirit out to the icy step
Feel the night on your face, the mist upon your lips
You pull the cloak around you as you listen to the wind
And you hum the refrain as you take the hill again