The Hitch Hiker

[Intro: Low ambient drone, distant wind, muted fingerpicked guitar] [Verse] Headlights cut the midnight line White paint bleeding into black Radio hums a broken hymn Static crawling up my back There’s a figure by the shoulder Thumb out in the rain Face half-lost in shadow I swear I know that shape [Instrumental pause: single guitar harmonic, wind swell] [Chorus] I pass him on the highway I pass him once again Every mile behind me He’s waiting up ahead No matter how I drive away No matter where I’ve been I pass him on the highway And he just starts to grin (He just starts to grin) [Verse] Stopped for gas in Cedar Grove Coffee shaking in my hand Clerk says, “You look pale tonight” I don’t think she understands Back on asphalt, empty stretch No cars, no signal bars Just that silhouette again Beneath the dying stars [Instrumental break: brushed percussion enters softly, low droning swell] [Chorus] I pass him on the highway I pass him once again Different towns, same shoulder Same old crooked grin Rearview mirror, fleeting shape Then nothing but the wind I pass him on the highway And he’s further up ahead (Further up ahead) [Bridge: Drone deepens, percussion drops out] [Spoken, almost whisper] I never see him walking I never see him move But every time I look away He’s somewhere in my view No footprints in the gravel No sound when he appears Just mile marker seventeen And all my quiet fears [Soft instrumental swell: reversed guitar texture] [Chorus] I pass him on the highway I pass him once again Now there’s no one on the shoulder But there’s someone in my head The road keeps stretching endlessly Like it will never end I pass him on the highway— [Sudden instrumental drop: drone only] And he’s sitting in the passenger seat. (He’s sitting in the passenger seat) [Outro: Bare guitar plucks, distant wind, fading low-frequency hum]