I don't know where I'm bound - Johnny Cash

This song was an inspiration to me 2 1/2 years ago when I left Ireland to first come to South America. I was embarking on a journey without any real plan as to where I was going. Little did I know, 2 1/2 years later it would hold such significance but in a way that has changed with time. Where once these lines spoke to me of freedom on the road and a boundless adventure fettered only by my own imagination and courage, they now hold a different sentiment.


To the man locked up behind bars, the open road is the water of his desert. To the struggling housewife bound in misery to a life without hope, the open road could be the chink of light shining through her curtains. To the nine to five office worker living a monotonous life of number crunching and data entry, the open road might be the missing piece of her jigsaw. To the depressed teenager battling each day against the harshness of an unfair and unbalance education system, the open road is waiting with it's legs open, screaming to be mounted. 


Yet, to the musician, to the artist, to the rambler, to the salesman, to the shepherd, to the nomad, to the  gypsy, to the photographer, to the pilot, to the sailor, to the thief, to the cowboy and to those just searching for something, the open road can be a chasm of solitude, a labour of love. The open road can take on the form of a mistress, vacant and unanswering, demanding yet void of reason. Without roots, a tree will die. But without wings a bird wont fly. So onward the journey goes.


I don't know where I'm bound 
I don't know where I'm bound 
Whistles calling me away 
leaving at the break of day and 
I don't know where I'm bound 

Can't stand locks, bars or doors 
mean cops insanity and wars 
Gotta find a place of peace 
Till then much travellin' on seas 
but I don't know where I'm bound 

There's gotta be a place for me 
under some green growing tree 
clear cool water running by 
an unfettered view of the sky 
but I don't know where I'm bound 

When I die don't bury me 
cause then I must be free 
cremate my body with a grin 
throw my ashes to the wind 
cause I don't know where I'm bound 

I don't know where I'm bound 
I don't know where I'm bound 
Whistles calling me away 
leaving at the break of day and 
I don't know where I'm bound 

Got myself a little gall 
she has been a damn right pall 
that ol' highway's calling me 
and free I gotta be but 
I don't know where I'm bound