The Open Road Lyrics

My father died today, or was it yesterday, I can't be sure

I got a call from a nurse in a hospital in San Pedro, California

I didn't even know he was living there

She told me he died of a heart attack

I haven't talked to my father in many years

He said he couldn't maintain a relationship with someone who lived the way that I did

As they were going through his personal effects

They found a scrap of paper with my name and

phone number on it

It said, son

The feeling was mutual

Although I guess I was okay with talking with him on the phone

I had to fly to California to deal with the stuff that he had

He didn't own a house, and I sold his car

But as I was looking through

I found that he had owned a boat that I never knew about

I walked down the dock where this boat was supposed to be

I was alone, smoking a cigarette, just thinking about things

I didn't feel depressed per se, but I wasn't happy either

My dad's boat was moored at the end of the dock

It was called the Open Road

And as I approached it, I saw

There was a seal right in front of it, blocking my way

Not looking too friendly

And this seal started yelling at me, in the way that seals yell

And it started charging me and coming at me

It's been a long time since I've been in a fight, and I was afraid

I tossed my cigarette in the water, and I backed up quickly

I didn't know what else to do, so I shined my cell phone flashlight at it

It didn't seem to care at all

It gave an eerie glow to its face, and it attacked me

It came towards me and tried to ram my shins with its head, and so I kicked it

I kicked it, and kicked it, and kicked it, and kicked it

Until it stopped struggling

The seal laid there, lifeless, with a smile on its face

And so I rolled its body into the water

And I climbed aboard my dad's ship

And I cut the rope connecting the ship to the dock

And I floated away