[Verse 1] I was young and wild and runnin’ free Summer wind blowin’ through the trees Me and Rissa dancin’ through the dark Before the devil got inside my heart Bedroom whispers, black silk sin Derrick sippin’ with the firelight dim Said, “Jimmy Dear, your secret’s safe with me” Gods, I was dumb enough to believe [Pre-Chorus] Those summer nights, the manor heat Bare feet racin’ down the marble streets I was too young to understand How a devil learns to hold your hand [Chorus] Oh, when I look back now That summer seemed to last forever somehow And if I had the choice Yeah, I’d still hear Rissa’s voice Those were the best damn days before the fall Summer of ‘26 [Verse 2] He’d call me “pretty” then spit my name Build me up just to drown me in shame Every hallway felt razor thin Every locked door felt like givin’ in Started sneakin’ wine to numb the ache Learned real fast how to smile fake Everybody saw the Willowbreeze gold Nobody saw what was growin’ cold [Pre-Chorus] Garden air and a storm rollin’ in Hands all bloody beneath my skin I remember every single breath Right before I scared myself to death [Chorus] Oh, when I look back now That summer burned the whole world down somehow He was laughin’ one second more Then his blood was on the garden floor And I ran like hell through the midnight fog Summer of ‘26 [Bridge – stripped back, darker] Me and Rissa cryin’ in the storm Tryin’ to hold what was already gone I watched the heavens split apart With his name still echoing through my heart And I ain’t been warm since that long heat Just smoke and city lights and empty streets But every year when summer hits I’m right back there in ‘26 [Guitar Solo] [Final Chorus] Oh, when I look back now A part of me still lives there somehow In the gardens, in the heat In the sound of runnin’ feet Yeah we were young and broken and alive Summer of ‘26 Oh yeah Back in the summer of ‘26 Mmm It was the summer of ‘26
