It was a really
weird time in my life. I had spent the past
year in hell with a girl, and she was having trouble with my refusing to put up with her
insanity any longer. One of my oldest closest friends had come back after a long time. We came to the realisation that we
hated each other.
The entire world seemed to be against me.
I spent a lot of time in my parents living room, drinking whiskey. I was the music critic for the univerity newspaper at the time, and one of the albums I had been given was Donkeys, a collection of rarities and b-sides by Tindersticks. I wasn't a fan of the band, but I found myself putting the CD on repeat for days on end. Travelling Light was the one song I particularly associate with those times. It's a beautiful duet with some amazing strings. Plus, it had one lyric that seemed to be aimed directly at me -
"Everything you've done
You say you can justify"
Travelling Light
(Normal text : Stuart, italicised text : Carla)
There are places I don't remember
There are times and days, they mean nothing to me
I've been looking through some of them old pictures
They don't serve to jog my memory
I'm not waking in the morning, staring at the walls these days
I'm not getting out the boxes, spread all over the floor
I've been looking through some of them old pictures
Those faces they mean nothing to me no more
I travel light
You travel light
Everything I've done
You say you can justify,
mmm you travel light
I can't pick them out, I can't put them in these sad old bags
Some things you have to lose along the way
Times are hard, I'll only pick them out, wish I was going back
Times are good, you'll be glad you ran away
Do you remember, how much you loved me?
You say you have no room in that thick old head
Well it comes with the hurt and the guilt, and the memories
If I had to take them with me I would never get from my bed
There's a crack in the roof where the rain pours through
That's the place you always decide to sit
Yeah I know I'm there for hours, the water running down my face
Do you really think you keep it all that well hid?
No but I travel light
You don't travel light
Everything I've done
It's just a lie, you don't travel light
I'm travelling light
No you don't travel light
I'm travelling light
No, no, you don't travel light
I'm travelling light
You don't travel light