The Backup Plan

[Verse 1] He trained as the understudy, learned the lines he'd never use Kept the good suit in the closet for the call that wouldn't choose The first plan had the spotlight and the second had the door But the night the first plan faltered, he was ready on the floor [Chorus] It was only the backup plan, the one you keep in case The folded map, the second key, the quiet second place But the dream went out the window and the spare became the road And the life he never planned for is the best thing that he's known [Verse 2] A woman took the steady job and shelved the brighter one Told herself it's temporary, just until the real had come The temporary held her, and it fed her, and it grew And the someday that she waited on already had come true [Chorus] It was only the backup plan, the one you keep in case The folded map, the second key, the quiet second place But the dream went out the window and the spare became the road And the life he never planned for is the best thing that he's known [Bridge] The first plan isn't ruined, it just did its only task It got you out the door at all, it gave you nerve to ask Then it stepped aside in silence like a candle in the sun For the plainer thing that loved you back and stayed when it was done [Steel Solo] [Chorus] It was never the backup plan, you only called it that The folded map, the second key, the coat upon the rack The dream went out the window and the spare became the road And the life you never planned for is the only one that showed [Outro] The good suit's getting dusty on its hook behind the door (second place, second place) Turns out you weren't waiting anymore