[Verse 1: Space-rock male lead, wide and steady] I was twenty-six with a soldering iron and a dream Bolting solar panels to a frame of foil and beam They said three years, maybe four, if the batteries hold true Then it goes quiet up there and you build another new Thirty-one years later it is still sending home the sky Every heat wave that we had, it saw them first from high Told a million farmers when to plant and when to run Little silver box of mine still talking to the sun [Chorus: Space-rock male lead, full force] Burn it bright on the way down Every mile you fell, I was still around Light up the whole sky, make a sound Burn it bright on the way down [Verse 2: Space-rock male lead, building strength] Retirement party Friday with a cake shaped like a dish Speeches from the young ones and a card that says best wish Then my boss leans over, says you know they're bringing it home Same night, ten o'clock, the old girl's coming home alone I put my fork down on the plate and I walked out to my truck Drove out past the county line and parked in the wheat and muck Laid down on the tailgate with the cold air in my lungs Watching for the thing I built when both of us were young [Chorus: Space-rock male lead, full force] Burn it bright on the way down Every mile you fell, I was still around Light up the whole sky, make a sound Burn it bright on the way down [Bridge: Space-rock male lead, heat bloom, the guitars glow from clean to full] There Coming over the hills like a match across the dark Splitting into pieces, every piece a little spark Thirty-one years of weather coming home on fire And I'm crying in a wheat field and I've never been so tired Go on, girl, go on, girl, you did more than they asked Now come on home at last [Verse 3: Space-rock male lead, wide open] Thirty-one long winters it was looking out for us Never asked for anything, never made a fuss I put my hand up to the glow the way you'd wave a train And for a second it was twenty-six and I was young again [Final Chorus: Space-rock male lead, full force] Burn it bright on the way down Every mile you fell, I was still around Light up the whole sky, make a sound Burn it bright on the way down [Outro: Space-rock male lead, wide open] Both of us retired, both of us done Both of us burning on the way to the sun I'll see you on the ground, I'll see you in the field Every sky you ever saw, I know it all was real [End]
