[Intro | D Major | 172 BPM | acoustic guitar, bright banjo, crashing percussion] I grew up far enough from the ocean To miss it. And close enough... To know it was there. [Verse 1 | acoustic guitar, upright bass] We had pine trees instead of palm trees Dirt roads instead of boardwalks A creek behind the house And a sky full of thunderclouds But every summer somebody loaded up the car Cooler in the back Windows rolled down Heading toward that sound I never had the right words for it I just knew when we arrived The whole world got bigger And somehow... I got quiet inside [Pre-Chorus | mandolin enters] Everybody told me The ocean was dangerous I think that's why I trusted it [Chorus | full band] The ocean knew my name Before I knew myself It never asked me To be somebody else It didn't care about the things I couldn't figure out It just kept moving When I didn't know how And every wave that hit the shoreline Was proof that starting over's real The ocean knew my name Before I learned how to heal [Verse 2 | fuzzy electric guitar joins] I found shells in my pockets Long after we got home Like little pieces of a place That didn't want to let me go I watched the fishermen waking up Before the sun could even rise Everybody chasing something Underneath that endless sky The storms would roll in angry Turn the whole world gray Then a few minutes later The birds came back again I think I needed that lesson More than I knew back then [Pre-Chorus | accordion enters] Nothing stays still forever Not the water Not the weather Not me [Chorus | bigger arrangement] The ocean knew my name Before I knew myself It never asked me To fit into a mold It didn't judge the storms That were happening inside It just showed me Everything survives And every wave that hit the shoreline Eventually returns to sea Maybe that's what growing up means Learning you can leave And still be free [Bridge | B Minor | 128 BPM | stripped acoustic guitar, accordion] I spent years thinking I was the only thing That wouldn't change Like everybody else Had found the current And I was stuck in one place But the ocean never apologized For pulling back It knew leaving Was sometimes how you came back [Bridge Build | accelerating to 172 BPM | banjo tremolo, drums build] The tide doesn't ask permission The tide doesn't explain It disappears every night And comes back anyway [Final Chorus | D Major | full band] The ocean knew my name Before I knew myself Back when I was just a kid Trying to understand the world I thought I needed answers I thought I needed a map Turns out I just needed somewhere That would take me as I am So if I ever get lost again If I forget who I am I'll find the road back to the water And listen once again [Outro | acoustic guitar only] I grew up far enough from the ocean To miss it. Close enough... To know it was home.
