[INSTRUMENTAL — slide guitar lick over organ, claps pounding slow and heavy] [VERSE 1 — easy bounce, fond, close-mic] Daddy left a '03 Impala, coat still on the seat A note above the visor: "check the oil every week" No will, no service, just a tank half-full of gas And a bootleg in the deck of his favorite gospel band Brothers say sell her, get what little she can bring I said I'll buy your thirds — you can't sell a living thing She leak, she rattle, she thirsty for the premium But every time she turn over, I get to see him [VERSE 2 — flow looser, half-smiling, guitar answering] Bench seat, three boys, elbow wars at every light "She ain't fast, she faithful" — that was Daddy's life advice He'd warm her up on winter mornings, coffee going cold Watching breath fog the windshield, me at ten years old Learned to drive in the church lot, stalling out He just laughed and said "she teaching you what slow's about" Now my son's eleven, he ask why I keep her clean I tell him some machines hold people in between [HOOK — low chant, organ swelling, claps doubled] Keep her running (running), keep her running (running) Two hundred thousand miles and she still humming Keep her running (running), keep her running (running) Long as that V8 turn over, Daddy saying something [VERSE 3 — flow stripped back, honest, strings low] Odometer tapped out at two hundred twenty grand I keep a notebook of the miles like a ledger in my hand Brothers got they share of nothing, I got the coat, the keys Every Sunday after three I drive her out beneath the trees She drinks a little oil still, I keep the level high Some things you don't fix, son — you just keep alive They ask me why I keep her, I don't even make a sound Some answers only come at idle, windows down [HOOK — low chant, organ swelling, voices stacked] Keep her running (running), keep her running (running) Two hundred thousand miles and she still humming Keep her running (running), keep her running (running) Long as that V8 turn over, Daddy saying something [OUTRO — engine-idle chant fading, slide guitar trailing] Keep her running (running), keep her running (running) (Check the oil every week)
