San Bernardino

Lyrics

We got in your car and we hit the highway
Eastern sun was rising over the mountains
Yellow and blood red bits
Like a kaleidoscope

And flaming swords may guard the garden of Eden
But we consulted maps from earlier days
Dead languages on our tongues
Holding on to our last hope

And the day was bright and fine
And the highway sign said, "San Bernardino welcomes you"

I checked us into our hotel* and filled the bathtub
And you got in the warm warm water
I pulled petals** from my pocket
I loved you so much just then

And it was hard but you were brave, you are splendid***
And we will never be alone in this world
No matter what they say
We're gonna be okay

We were safe inside
and our new son cried, "San Bernardino welcomes you"^

Banter

This is a song about a couple having a baby in a hotel room at the freeway near where I grew up. It's not at this one hotel, but there's a hotel out Route 66 in California called the Wigwam. It's wigwams. You see it when you're a teenager and you think, 'Man, someday I'm going to stay there and it's going to be hilarious.' And then you get old enough to stay in hotels and, 'I'm never going to stay at the Wigwam. That's not cool.' So I thought of that hotel when I wrote this song, but I should like to tell you it's not at the Wigwam, it's down the road a little ways from there. 'Cause what's good in this story would be less good if the baby had to be born at the Wigwam. (2009-03-20 Attucks Theatre)
This song takes place in the Wigwam Motel. (2014-06-17 Mayan Theatre)

Live Performances

Footnotes

*"motel" instead of "hotel" (2017-06-01, 2023-10-02, 2023-10-03, 2023-10-28, 2023-10-29)
** "rose petals" instead of "petals" (2017-06-01, 2023-10-02, 2023-10-03, 2023-10-28, 2023-10-29)
*** The curator of this website has quoted this on multiple occasions to people who have just given birth and it goes over well as a sentiment. Thanks, John.
^ "we welcome you" appended (2023-10-28, 2023-10-29)