[Verse 1] There’s a dent in the guardrail out past Miller’s bend From a winter we don’t talk about much anymore You still take that curve like you’re late for something Even when there’s nowhere left to go Cal’s got a job at the plant on the highway Says it’s decent if you don’t think twice He keeps a pair of ratty boots in the back of his Chevy That he swears he’ll only wear one more time [Pre-Chorus] We measure the years by what closed down early And who doesn’t come around [Chorus] Everything out here leans toward leaving Even the shadows stretch off the road We keep our hands on the wheel for no good reason Like if we stop, we might have to know; If this is all we were ever gonna be Or just somewhere we drive too slow On the gravel shoulders, counting the seasons Watching the same winds blow [Verse 2] There’s a flicker in the sign at the edge of town limits Been buzzing like that since we were kids And the diner still closes before the night gets started Like it’s tired of pretending it lives You said you’d head out west for a summer Came back before the leaves could turn Now you’re pouring drinks for the same old stories About people who never returned [Pre-Chorus] We all got a line that we keep from crossing Like it’s drawn in the dirt [Chorus] Everything out here leans toward leaving Even the river cuts out and bends We keep saying next year like we mean it While we circle the same dead ends There’s a map in your glovebox, folded to nowhere With towns we’ll never get to know On the gravel shoulders, tracing the distance Between who we are and go [Bridge] Late August air with the windows half open Static on every station we try You laugh like it’s nothing, but I hear it breaking Somewhere you don’t let it show There’s a light in your room that you never turn off now Says you can’t sleep in the dark I think it’s the quiet that finally found you After we broke some hearts [Final Chorus] Everything out here leans toward leaving But nobody’s timing it right We keep finding reasons for staying That don’t hold up in the light If I asked you straight, would you say it’s enough here Or just something we outgrew, y'know? On the gravel shoulders, engines still running With nowhere else to go [Bridge] Late August air with the windows half open Static on every station we try You laugh like it’s nothing, but I hear it breaking Somewhere you don’t let it show (Somewhere you don’t let it show)
