[Intro: radio static, resonator slide, foot stomp] Gravel road in Coahoma and a radio in my hand Static like a field at night that nobody else could understand [Verse 1] Christmas ninety one, two walkies in a plastic shell Mama said the red one's yours, the other one is Dre's, so share it well He had the yellow house, the tire swing, and a hound dog named Judge I had the blue one with the screen door that the wind could never budge Every night at nine we keyed the button, waited for the beep Channel three, you there, over, till our mamas made us sleep We were spies on a county road with nothing much to spy Just a deputy's slow headlights and a crop duster in the sky And when his daddy left for good and that yellow house went still I held the button down all night and breathed so he could hear me still [Hook: sung, adult female blues alto] Channel three, channel three Static on the road between you and me Twenty years I let the batteries go to sleep Come back, come back, over Channel three, channel three Half a mile was all it had to be Say my name like nothing happened in between Copy, copy, over [Verse 2] Eighteen I caught the Greyhound down to Houston with a duffel Dre stayed home and ran his uncle's tire shop through every kind of trouble Calls got short, then calls got rare, then calls turned into cards Then his mama passed in March while I was working in the yards I said I couldn't get off, I said the flights were way too high Truth is I was scared to see that yellow porch and watch him cry I sent a wreath and signed the card with just my last name like a stranger Then let the years stack up like bald tires, every one a little grayer Mama said on Sundays Dre keeps asking how you been I'd say tell him I'm good and let the silence win [Double-Time Switch: stacked, no commas] Ten four was copy ten nine was my daddy is hollering ten ten was come over and channel three was ours till the supper bell and the deputy came creeping with his window rolled Channel one was truckers channel five was Mister Harlan on the tractor singing every hymn in the hymnal to the soybeans and the buzzards and the cotton and the cold Batteries from the junk drawer electrical tape on the antenna and a code for I am scared we never needed cause the static on the speaker said it plain and bold Twenty years of channel three gone quiet in a closet with the trophies and the jerseys and the cassettes and the homecoming photos and the boy I used to be before I let a friendship fold [Hook: sung, adult female blues alto, half] Channel three, channel three Static on the road between you and me Twenty years I let the batteries go to sleep Come back, come back, over [Chopper Burst: triplet bounce, flow switch] Thanksgiving in my old bedroom and the walkie is in a shoebox by the boots with a crack in the belt clip and a dragon decal peeling and the battery door is taped at the back Brand new batteries click it and twist it to channel three and I key it as a joke and say Andre are you there over and the static comes rattling and rolling back like a train on a track Then a little voice crackles who is this over and I stammer like an idiot say a buddy of your daddy from a long time ago and he says hold on a minute and the line goes black Then a grown voice low as the gravel says it took you twenty years to say over over and I'm sitting on the carpet with my heart in my lap and I'm laughing and crying and I crack [Verse 3] Walked out on the gravel and he's walking from the yellow side Halfway in the middle where we used to meet to hide He didn't say the funeral and I didn't say the wreath He held up his old red radio and grinned through crooked teeth I said I'm sorry, Dre, I wasn't there, I wasn't man enough He said you breathed me through the worst year that I had, so that's enough His boy and my girl are on the porch with both the walkies now Channel three, you there, over, and they're learning how [Final Hook: sung, adult female blues alto] Channel three, channel three Two kids on the road where we used to be Twenty years I let the batteries go to sleep Come back, come back, over Channel three, channel three Half a mile was all it had to be Say my name like nothing happened in between Copy, copy, over [Outro: resonator slide, harmonica, static fade] Gravel road in Coahoma and a radio in my hand Static like a field at night, and somebody finally understands
