POSTCARD FOURTEEN
From the Land That Keeps Calling You Home
Some places become memories. Scotland becomes a longing.
Long after the boots have been cleaned, the photographs edited and the songs written, Scotland has a remarkable way of finding its way back into your thoughts. A photograph, a melody, the scent of peat smoke or the sound of distant bagpipes is often enough to awaken the desire to return.
Calling Back to Me is the final postcard from Scotland – A Love Letter. It is about that quiet voice every traveller knows—the one that reminds us some journeys are never truly over.
CALLING BACK TO ME
Inspired by the feeling that Scotland is always calling you back.
ABOUT THE SONG
Every traveller has that one place they never stop thinking about.
For some, it is a single mountain. For others, a quiet beach or a favourite city. For us, it is Scotland.
Calling Back to Me captures the feeling of hearing that quiet invitation to return. It is the memory of mist-covered glens, winding Highland roads, friendly conversations in village pubs and endless days spent walking through some of the world's most beautiful landscapes.
As the final musical postcard from Scotland – A Love Letter: Fourteen Postcards from the Highlands, the song completes the journey while leaving one message behind: Scotland is never simply a destination. It is a place that stays with you long after you have gone home.
SONGWRITER'S NOTE
Every time I think I've seen enough of Scotland, I discover another reason to return.
There is always another trail to walk, another island to visit, another conversation to have or another sunrise waiting somewhere beyond the next hill.
Looking back on more than one hundred hiking and trekking journeys, I realise this album was never really about reaching the end of a journey. It was about understanding why I keep coming back.
Calling Back to Me is my thank-you to a country that has inspired my photography, my songwriting and my life in ways I never expected.
Lyrics:
Cold Highland wind
Fire burning low
Some places leave you
Some never let you go
Calling back to me
Calling back to me
Every lonely highway
Brings you back to me
And no matter where I go
No matter what I see
The Highlands and the ocean
Keep calling back to me
We chased the fading daylight
Down the western coast
Tiny lights in old stone windows
Like they knew us most
Rain upon the windshield
Ocean in the air
Every road felt endless
Like we belonged somewhere
Now the miles grow longer
And the night runs deep
But I still hear the Highlands
Calling out to me
Calling back to me
Calling back to me
Every lonely highway
Brings you back to me
And no matter where I go
No matter what I see
The Highlands and the ocean
Keep calling back to me
Morning over Cairngorms
Silver in the sky
Silent rivers moving slow
Like the years passing by
Wester Ross behind us
Still burning in my soul
Like an old forgotten song
I can never let go
Now the road leads homeward
But my heart still runs free
Through the rain and distant mountains
Calling back to me
Calling back to me
Calling back to me
Every lonely highway
Brings you back to me
And no matter where I go
No matter what I see
The Highlands and the ocean
Keep calling back to me
Maybe home’s not one place
Maybe home’s a feeling too
Somewhere in the Highlands
I left a part of you
Calling back to me
Calling back to me
Every winding road
Still brings me to my knees
And though the fire grows cold
One thing will always be
The Highlands and the ocean
Keep calling back to me
Cold Highland wind
Morning light on the sea
And somewhere far away
Scotland still calls me
Every ending is the beginning of another journey. Scotland will always be calling back.