I'm heading up to the mountaintop Just to breathe the ocean breeze Islands on this panorama Like old friends on hard days They can heal with their steady presence For this I'll dodge the tourists every day The passerby will never know The stories behind the walls they roam The passerby will never see Looking down at their little screens Cars queue up all down the road Wait for a turn to see this postcard It's not a place that I can stay for long Go down the path and listen to silence Except the beat of my feet on the stairs And the hum of the city pulling me back in The passerby will never know The stories behind the walls they roam The passerby will never see Looking down at their little screens I watch the wild parrots of telegraph hill Fly in waves of color from the valley below Overhead they squeal and cry Then scatter away in different directions I wonder why, then I see it clear There's a hawk in the sky in a dive, and it's getting near The passerby will never know The stories behind the walls they roam The passerby will never see Looking down at their little screens Unless they stretch their mind Gotta stretch your mind Get out of line Get yourself free