Any old somewhere may call you
When you're a middle-of-nowhere kid
With Tennessee and California
On either side of your head
The radio gods whispered a promise
Of easy work and no hands
And that's how I became a starstruck fool
And a stranger to my old man
♪
I close my eyes and I see the woodpile
And the creek just past the trees
And a neighbor girl whose true intentions
I never could quite read
Search me why I still carry this
Dog-eared book of dead names
All you ever gave me was blows to the heart
And I love you just the same
♪
Didn't I make myself clear?
When are you gonna get wise?
Don't come around me and my friends up here
With your clodhoppers and your big dumb eyes
All you ever gave me
Was the fear of God and this
Slow way of talking I can't disguise
Yeah, I go by my second name now
♪
21 and I was stumbling
But I soon hit stride
With nothing but a road before you
You just learn how to ride
That's me at the wheel and me on the radio
And we're sailing down the 101
This is the last hundred dollars I'll need from you, dad
I can feel that my time is
♪
Tonight I'll shout my story
And shout myself raw
From the footlights before me
Straight clear to Arkansas
Tonight the whole town's in the hands of the man
With the microphone
Here's one you may remember
Angels carry me home
♪
Hey, kid, I'm sorry
Wish I could offer you something, but I'm
Still out there, still stumbling
♪
That was no god on the radio
Only a breeze passing through
But that old farm, your first love, your father's tears
Are somehow eternal and true
And old folks never do get out of nowhere
It's a sad thing to say
And only a fool thinks he can leave
Just by driving away