Sanyassin — An adult spiritual wanderer rests beside a sunlit irrigation canal as discarded possessions transform into flowers and birds

The songbook

Sanyassin

Words by Douglas Heyes Jr. Listen to the recorded versions and follow the lyric below.

Original Doug Heyes lyrics · AI-generated music & vocals

A weary wanderer describes a spiritual path shaped by burdens, appetite and a violent former life. Encounters with an ascetic traveler open a possibility of renewal beyond his exhaustion. The image of removing stones from a backpack makes release tangible, turning the search for eternity into the work of finally coming home.

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Recorded versions

3 recordings. Different voices and arrangements bring another side of the song into the light.

Lyrics

Sanyassin

Words by Douglas Heyes Jr

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SANYASSIN

I'm just a Holy Roller

On the road out to the wall

A scarecrow Rock and Roller

Who's answering the call

When we get on the other side

We're gonna have a ball

First we're gonna to have to learn

To run before we crawl

The starter’s gun is loaded

And pointed in the air

He tells the little kids

To get the hell on out of there

Man he has no memory

Of how it did begin

He just gives you a teddy bear

When it's your time to win

I was standing over there

Exhausted and alone

When an old Ascetic Wanderer

From another SpaceTime Zone

You have defiled your father's throne

And now you're weary to the Bone

Now the battle has been won

And our day in the saddle is done

Come and take the water

The water from His Home

The tomb was standing open

When we rolled away the stone

Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters

Never going home

Come and take the waters

Hear the four winds moan

BRIDGE:

Ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh

Baby please don't cry

Oh-oh-oh-oh

I can't tell you why

Answer now for everything

Be the music that you sing

Live to love the joy you bring

Glory to the newborn king

I am just a Sanyassin

Worn and weary shape I'm in

The blessings all already are

When you come home to your star

But if you can not find your way

You'll find it another day

And when you do, I promise you

You're coming home to stay

So, listen to this Traveler

This Yogi from deep space

The Long Walk of The Wanderer

And a newborn human race

It might take forever

But if you come with me

I'll show you fields of Heather

And you’ll meet eternity

I am an old Sanyassin

Once a paid assassin great

I don't know just what I know

I know just how I feel

And when the swallows all come back

Homing back here to the shack

I'll be right out in the back

Taking stones from my backpack

I have carried them so long

Another country, another song

Wasted Days and wasted nights

Chasing crazy appetites

But then the Lord turned on the light

I made it through another night

Made it home from where I've been

Just another old Sanyassin

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