Traveler or Wanderer — An adult figure pauses where an orderly Highway 99 route and a free orchard path split beneath a brilliant compass-like sky

The songbook

Traveler or Wanderer

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

Original Doug Heyes lyrics · AI-generated music & vocals

A seasoned traveler addresses another wanderer through images of rivers, hidden knowledge and a long spiritual road. Their shared experience does not make their journeys identical, and each must eventually face the passage alone. Questions about legacy and guidance turn departure into a hope that something left behind can help others find their way.

Listen

Recorded versions

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

Lyrics

Traveler or Wanderer

Words by Douglas Heyes Jr

Save Lyrics as Text
Traveler or Wanderer
It’s pretty much the same
After 7 lonely years
Tryin’ to make my name
I feel what you’re feeling
I know what you’re concealing
No secret is unknown to me
Your weakness is a home to me.

You might think you know me
But I can say for sure
One old weary traveler
Knows just where you were
7 years ago today
Lost and found along the way
Came The One That Has No Name
You and I are not the same

CHORUS:
Traveler or Wanderer
Hear the Four Winds blow
Outbound Soul the Outlander
From a long, long time ago
When you are the Traveler
You know what I know
When you are the Wanderer
I know that you must go

Take a walk down through the dark
Set a fire from a spark
River ride way down inside
Sunburned hide and old Birchbark
You can run but you can’t hide
Icy River, deep and wide
Pedal steel and metal slide
Promise on the other side

Raise your arms up to the sky
Learn to sing before you cry
Spread your wings and try to fly
Never have to say goodbye
After all is said and done
You might find the day will come
When everything goes back to One
Your new life has just begun

CHORUS:
Traveler or Wanderer
Hear the Four Winds blow
Outbound Soul the Outlander
From a long, long time ago
When you are the Traveler
You know what I know
When you are the Wanderer
I know that you must go

Will you leave a legacy
They will not forget?
Can you ever set them free
To die and resurrect?
Will they see the messages
You carved into a tree?
Guiding them along their way
From here to eternity

Somewhere out there is your home
You must go there all alone
For your sins you must atone
When you come before the throne
You will know the way to go
And which way the river flows
A brand new morning waits for you.
To open Heaven’s Gate for you.

CHORUS:
Traveler or Wanderer
Hear the Four Winds blow
Outbound Soul the Outlander
From a long, long time ago
When you are the Traveler
You know what I know
When you are the Wanderer
I know that you must go

*****

© Douglas Heyes Jr. All rights reserved.