[Intro – acoustic guitar, quiet country rhythm] It was somewhere after midnight, at a station out of town. I was waiting for a train with an old suitcase on the ground. An old man sat beside me, worn-out boots and silver hair. He looked down the empty railroad like he'd left a lifetime there. [Verse 1] He said, “Son, where are you going?” I said, “I really couldn't say. I just know there's something behind me I can't carry one more day.” He smiled like he'd heard that answer many years before. Then he leaned back on the wooden bench and looked toward the door. [Pre-Chorus] He said, “I've taken roads that led nowhere, I've stayed when I should've gone. And it took me half a lifetime to learn where I went wrong.” [Chorus] You don't have to know the road, you don't have to see the end. Sometimes you've gotta leave behind what you cannot mend. Take what matters with you, leave what weighs you down. You don't have to know the road, son — just know when it's time to go. [Background Vocals: (Time to go...)] [Short instrumental – acoustic guitar and harmonica] [Verse 2] He told me about a woman he'd loved when he was young. About words he should have spoken and songs he'd left unsung. He said, “I spent years chasing something I already had back home. Funny how you learn what matters when you've walked too far alone.” [Lead Vocalist Ad-lib: (Mmmh-mmh...)] [Pre-Chorus] Then somewhere in the distance I heard my train roll in. He looked at me and whispered, “That's where your road begins.” [Chorus – warmer] You don't have to know the road, you don't have to see the end. Sometimes you've gotta leave behind what you cannot mend. Take what matters with you, leave what weighs you down. You don't have to know the road, son — just know when it's time to go. [Background Vocals: (Time to go...)] [Bridge – almost spoken] I picked my suitcase from the ground and turned to shake his hand. But the old man only smiled at me like somehow he'd understand. I climbed aboard that midnight train. And through the window I watched that little station slowly disappear. [Instrumental – harmonica] [Final Chorus] I don't have to know the road, I don't have to see the end. I know there'll be some broken things that I can never mend. I'll take what matters with me, leave what weighs me down. I don't have to know the road anymore — I just have to know when it's time to go. [Background Vocals: (Time to go...)] [Outro – acoustic guitar] Years have passed since that night, but sometimes I still hear him say — [Softly] “Son... just know when it's time to go.” [Lead Vocalist Ad-lib: (Mmmh-mmh...)]
