Track 2 of the single Cab Driver's Almanac · 2015

Winding Up the Old Pocket Watch

“A softer one, with a guitar on a knee and an evening coming down. It was our first leaning toward a campus-song sound.”

xinyao · campus folk · nostalgic singalong · 2:33

Lyrics

We sat on the steps after the last class ended
Guitar on my knee and the evening descended
You sang me a tune that you wrote by yourself
And I kept it like a letter on the shelf

The songs that we wrote were so simple and plain
About bicycles, homework and walking in rain
But we sang them out loud to anyone near
And the whole of the campus would hear

Oh, sing it again, the song of the steps
Where the years were gentle and slow
Time is a watch that we wind in the dark
And the tune is the way that we know

Now we're older and the guitar has gone grey
The steps have been mended, the school's moved away
But I hum your old melody over the sink
And the whole of the evening comes back

Oh, sing it again, the song of the steps
Where the years were gentle and slow
Time is a watch that we wind in the dark
And the tune is the way that we know

Some songs are made of friends
Some are made of rain
Sing it once more, my dear
And we're young again

Oh, sing it again, the song of the steps
Where the years were gentle and slow
Time is a watch that we wind in the dark
And the tune is the way that we know

And the tune is the way that we know