Home > The Journalist, Scott D. Strader

The Journalist is a rock opera written and performed for piano and voice. It tells the story of a photojournalist caught in a conspiracy as he attempts to find meaning in his life. In Part I, he travels overseas and takes a picture of a map that can tell the future. In Part II, he returns home hoping to escape his fate and the burden of the image he carries with him.

The original Web site was here.

The CD is available at the following Web sites:

• Amazon.com (purchase, description)
• CD Baby (purchase, clips, description)
• Tower Records (purchase, clips, description)
• Internet Underground Music Archive (purchase, clips, download, description)

Lyrics & Songs (MP3, MUS, MIDI)

The songs were originally recorded in 2003. Below are the lyrics, MP3s, the score (in Finale's MUS format), and MIDI files.

Stream all songs - 49:48

Part I

1. I Believe - 5:32 ( MP3, score, MIDI )

I believe... (repeat)

Dropped down in town,
There are many ways to lose although
It takes some skill to get here.

Simple reasons,
If I find enough to photograph
It just might make more sense.

Local stories
The bar serves a surplus
They're a dozen for a dime.

Remember the promise?
You spoke of flight and fancy
But they never came together.

And I believe if I could leave
That I would take the first flight out now.

But I believe if I could see tomorrow
With some kind of map of the future
I'd still end up here.

2. My Beautiful Day - 5:26 ( MP3, score, MIDI )

When I hit the street, I know how to go with the crowd.
The death I saw yesterday, I'm not ready for this.
I take a shot...

I'll meet you at five and we'll have a round for the road
To calm the day-have another on me.
I take a shot...

You'll never believe the trouble I had getting here:
A man with blood on his hands holding onto a map.
I take a shot...

Here's to my beautiful day.
I'll see you here tomorrow
If you still remember me.

Here's to my beautiful day.
My head will clear tomorrow,
But will you be there for me?

3. Falling - 4:53 ( MP3, score, MIDI )

Oh, what a story,
Two pale figures on the grass.
What were they thinking?
A thousand words lost.

But every moment I linger trying to understand
Another light passes.

It's like a vision:
The lens imagines what will be.
But am I the creator
Or just the message?

And then I fell, and the picture took a part of me.
And then I fell into the story written into me.

Oh, what a morning,
I wake but find I have returned
To all the moments
That drinks abandoned.

But in the picture I've taken, something lost in translation
Or in the taker.

Get on the first flight.
Get on with nothing but the hope
Of two quick glances
Quickly receding.

And then I fell, and the picture took a part of me.
And then I fell into the story written into me.
And then I fell for the image melting down like a river flowing down into my short future.

4. The Crossing - 3:38 ( MP3, score, MIDI )

In the air, only hours to go.
My kingdom for a ticket back to springtime.
Pick up the phone again.

I know.
At 40-thousand feet, helpless in the cabin,
Maybe it's the map they're after.
What have I done?

I got the phone call at the airport on the plane.

My parents vanished like a spacecraft wiped away.

5. From the Heartland - 2:35 ( MP3, score, MIDI )

Goodbye Chicago,
Goodbye Detroit,
Goodbye San Francisco,
Goodbye New Orleans.

Goodbye Cincinnati,
Goodbye LA,
Goodbye to Yourtown,
Goodbye USA.

Goodbye my conscience,
Goodbye to who I am,
Goodbye Atlanta,
Goodbye Birmingham.

Goodbye Chicago,
Goodbye New Orleans,
Goodbye America,
You're not what you appear.

Goodbye America...

Part II

6. The Photograph - 6:00 ( MP3, score, MIDI )

Here I am.
Looking like I need guidance,
I landed in the mean city,
Looking up an old friend.

Here I am.
I've got the photograph,
But this pace can't last.

No reply.
I manage to escape notice
But with another friend missing
I'm running out of ideas.

Here I am
Where we met before.
I've got the photograph.

Call me, call me.
Call me, call me.
Just to hear a voice...

7. The Map - 6:20 ( MP3, score, MIDI )

It's the map that got their attention.
It's the map that brought them to me.
Stranger things have happened-haven't they? Haven't they?
What can I do with this photograph?

It's the map that charted the future.
It's the map that pulls me along.
If I could control it subtly, fatally...
All I'd achieve for what I believe.

We'll give him one last chance now.
Maybe then he'll get the message.

We took away his family,
And he never knew what hit him.

We took away his living
He had nothing to believe in.

Nothing to believe in...
Nothing to believe in...

In the map, I see them approaching
As the lines converge to a point.
But does the skyline know the outcome?
What do I have in this photograph?

8. Through the Woods - 8:12 ( MP3, score, MIDI )

Through the woods, I'm going.
Another doubtful day
And another hope receding.
Whatever happened to all my friends?

Through the woods downtown.
Construction covering
As I flee from those pursuing.
I've made a mess of my hurried life.

Through the empty building.
The dusty mezzanine.
There's a ladder through the ceiling.
Voices that speak of an easy end.

Through the woods, I'm going.
What do I still believe?
With the map in hand, its power, and
All of its followers closing in.

Through the woods, I'm going.
Another doubtful day
And another hope receding.
Whatever happened to all my friends?

No, there's no other way, must destroy the map.
And no one can help me here, on the roof, my chance.

Through the fourth floor window
I see an opening.
I can jump across the alley.

9. Where Was I? - 1:36 ( MP3, score, MIDI )

Where was I when the world was spinning?
Where was I when the road rushed at me?
Could it be that my memory's giving?
Where was I? Was it just a dream?

Check my hands but there's something missing.
Check my head but the focus goes.
Where was I when I needed someone?
Where were you when I hit the road?

10. (coda) - 5:32 ( MP3, score, MIDI )

I must destroy it.

I must destroy it.

They carried me away to a hospital. Hmm.
They told me not to fear, that they would handle everything. Hmm.

I looked into the light and felt the needle go. Hmm.
If I should die before, my hopeless heart is weakening.

At midnight
They came for me
Alone.
I hear messages from the Ether coming down
Into my short future...