First I would like to state that Antje does not partake of "pretentious allusions" or the "hope the teenage angst market will go for it". She is a niche artist who has stated, "I only became a songwriter so I could keep being a singer". It is largely about the voice (from her point of view); and yet her lyrics are thoughtful and purposeful. This song in particular was written when she was considering leaving the music business, and thinking back upon her heroes. It is very much from the heart. As has been stated elsewhere here, the words vary a little with each live performance (as is the case with all live artists; sing what you feel). But this is the version recorded on "Toward the Thunder".

Caffeinated Warriors

I settle in rooms
permeated by the stories of a million strangers.
Their ghosts dwell in the fixtures and the walls.
And they disappear like the mist
as it rises off the highway;
where nights are too quiet and too loud.

And they tug at your dreams in the middle of the day;
say'n the devil you know might be better than the devil that you don't know;
the stage lights and the miles will never show.
But the riches I bring you are nothing, mere trinkets,
mere currency between strangers;
and if you ever loved me you will let me go.

So good bye Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
and all you intrepid wanderers.
Good bye Amelia and Hemingway;
you broken-hearted explorers.
Good bye Joan of Arc
and all you caffeinated warriors.
Good bye, good bye to you.

I charted my course
in the fields of unfinished cathedrals,
to the pulsing heady calling of the southern cross.
I watched it pour like a flood
on the surface of lake Erie.
In talking to my GPS I've been talking to God.

I suspect it may be written in my blood.
But these castles of sand can not stand beyond the winter,
and the crow flies in the trail of Evangeline.
Maybe we wore our hearts too freely
on the nights when we worked out
on the marquees of that fleeting drop of time.

So good bye Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
and all you intrepid wanderers.
Good bye Amelia and Hemingway;
you broken-hearted explorers.
Good bye Joan of Arc
and all you caffeinated warriors.
Good bye, good bye to you.

...

So good bye Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,
and all you intrepid wanderers.
Good bye Amelia and Hemingway;
you broken-hearted explorers.
Good bye Joan of Arc,
and all you caffeinated warriors.
Good bye, good bye to you.

So good bye Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,
and all you intrepid travelers.
Good bye Virginia & Woody Guthrie;
you weary unravelers.
Good bye Townes Van Zandt;
you damned and dogged ramblers.
Good bye, good bye to you.

Good bye Hank Williams,
and you damned and empty handed gamblers.
Good bye, good bye ...

Good bye, good bye ...

Antje Duvekot