The Fallen Man
(© 1985 Andy Hill)
This is the oldest song on the album, and the oldest song we still perform. I wrote it in 1981 after my brother in law witnessed a suicide while driving beneath a bridge in Portland Oregon. It’s partly about the sadness of things we cannot understand, and partly about memory.

The sun burned high in the western sky
Casting shadows of a bridge as I drove by
And I thought of the people he knew if they knew him at all
I close my eyes and see him fall

I drove on down the road, I had to cry
I saw a little bit of myself in the boy that died
Now sometimes when daylight’s voices still to night time’s call
I close my eyes and see him fall

It could have been a woman
It could have been a friend
It could have been lack of both
I guess I’ll never understand
From a bridge so high in the time it took to fly
I wonder if he ever changed his mind

As I grow older now and in the mind’s eye
Though people’s faces change as the years go by
He’s an ageless photograph upon my mind’s wall
I close my eyes and see him fall

It could have been a woman
It could have been a friend
It could have been lack of both
I guess I’ll never understand
From a bridge so high in the time it took to fly
I wonder if he ever changed his mind

When I wonder of the chains upon mankind
Men of innocence and goodwill are men so blind

The sun burned high in the western sky
One face in a holy procession diverts my eye
And I think of the drifters I know hanging on by the thread of it all
I close my eyes and see him fall

Andy: Vocals, Piano, Organ, Strings, Electric Guitars, Acoustic Guitar
Renee: Vocals, Shaker, Acoustic Guitar
Marty: Bass, Electric Guitar
Voyce McGinley: Drums