[Verse 1 — coming back] Today I'm back at the office, but my mind is somewhere else. Thinking about the old band, thinking about ourselves. Jake, Peter, Johnny, we're playing once again. Old songs, new songs, like we never left back then. The record never came out, but somehow that's okay. When the guitar starts ringing, we're back there anyway. [Pre-Chorus] Years go by, years move on… But one song starts and suddenly— We're young again. [Chorus] Oh-oh, those days, oh-oh, those nights. We were young, we were alive. Oh-oh, those days, oh-oh, those nights. Gone, gone, gone… but the music's still alive. Gone, gone, gone… but the music carries on. Carries on… carries on… [Verse 2 — the wild years] We drove all night from town to town, guitars in the back, music turned up loud. One little hotel, one crazy night, we wanted to dance, they turned out the lights. We laughed in the morning, we thought we'd never change. We thought every wild night would always feel the same. We were young. We didn't know. [Chorus] Oh-oh, those days, oh-oh, those nights. We were young, we were alive. Oh-oh, those days, oh-oh, those nights. Gone, gone, gone… but the music's still alive. Gone, gone, gone… but the music carries on. Carries on… carries on… [Verse 3 — the memory] That old hotel, late at night, footsteps in the hallway, shadows in the light. We hid beneath the blankets, trying not to breathe, laughing like forever was waiting there for me. Now that place is gone. The walls are gone. The hallway's gone. And some of those people have been gone for so long. [Bridge — emotional] And I come home to broken lights, old boxes in the basement, ordinary nights. Nothing feels dramatic. Nothing feels brand new. And then I hear the old song… And suddenly it's you. Suddenly we're driving. Suddenly we're young. Suddenly we're laughing. Suddenly we've begun. [Build — drums rising] The places disappear. The faces disappear. The years disappear. But not the song. The nights disappear. The wildness disappears. But not the song. [Final Chorus — big emotional release] Oh-oh, those days, oh-oh, those nights. We were young, we were alive. Oh-oh, those days, oh-oh, those nights. Gone, gone, gone… but the music's still alive. Gone, gone, gone… but the music carries on. Carries on… carries on… And we're still here. We're still here. We're still here. [Outro — intimate, looping] Play it again… play it again… Old friends… old songs… Play it again… play it again… Everything else is gone. Everything else is gone. But when the music starts… We're young again. Oh-oh… Oh-oh… We're young again. [Fade]
