[Intro: diesel rumble, CB static, one guitar chord rings out] Breaker nine Anybody? [Hook: low urgent male lead, a guitar slam on every "high beams"] High beams. Every time he rises, I light up the back of your car High beams. Every time I light it, he sinks back down to where you are Lady, I ain't chasin' you. Don't look at me. Look behind [Verse 1: gravel, slow, like he's still shakin'] Two-lane through the corn on Halloween, half past one Every porch light dead and every jack-o'-lantern done Little hatchback up ahead with a witch hat on the seat Singin' to the radio and drummin' on the wheel to the beat Nine feet up in the cab, I see what a hatchback hides Four-way by the church. Back seat moved. A hood came up on the driver's side Blade caught my headlights once, like a fish turnin' in a creek Then he folded back down in the dark like he'd been there all week I hit the high beams, and he dropped like a coat off a hook And she flipped me off in the mirror. Lady, take a better look [Flow switch: double-time, eighteen gears] She punch it to eighty, I punch it to eighty, she think I'm the devil with chrome on the grille Every time she slow, he rise, I flash, he drop, and the corn on the shoulder is standin' still I can see her on the phone, sayin' a trucker tried to run her down Good. Call 'em. Bring the county. Bring every damn flashlight in town [Hook: guitar slams] High beams. Every time he rises, I light up the back of your car High beams. Every time I light it, he sinks back down to where you are Lady, I ain't chasin' you. Don't look at me. Look behind [Verse 2: tighter, the guitars chug under him] Saw a hand crawl up her headrest, slow, like a spider on a sill Laid on my horn like the end of the world, and he sank back down and lay still She screamed at me, I could see it, mouth wide in the mirror glow Thinkin' the monster's the eighteen-wheeler. Monster's three feet from her elbow [Beat Switch: guitars cut, fluorescent buzz and one heartbeat kick, then the drums crawl back in half-time] Gas station on the county line, she swung in sideways, ran Clerk locked the door behind her, pointin' through the glass at the man So I'm the man. Fine. Tire iron off the step. Walk slow Yanked her back door open. Candy wrappers. Nothin'. Cold Far door hangin' open on the corn side, swingin' on the hinge And the corn behind the lot is movin' with no wind [Verse 3: whispered, half-time, then rising] Twenty-two years on the road, I never close my sleeper curtain. Not once Walked back to my rig with the iron in my hand, and the curtain was shut Ain't nobody behind me now with a pair of brights to throw Ain't nobody nine feet up to see what I don't know [Final Hook: slower, guitars low, no slams] High beams. Every time he rises, somebody gotta light the back High beams. Ain't a single pair behind me. Just the county road and black Lady, I was never chasin' you. Now don't look at me. Look behind me
