[Verse 1] Lecture halls feel like prison walls Professor's voice just fades away While I'm sketching stories in my notebook margins Dreams of dust and endless days My parents call, say "stick it out" But I can taste the desert air Where characters live in tumbleweeds And silence writes itself out there [Chorus] So I'm dropping out, heading south To where the sky meets barren ground Got a typewriter and a beaten truck And stories waiting to be found In West Texas, where the wind don't lie And the stars spell out my name I'll trade my degree for mystery In this literary game [Verse 2] Dorm room walls close in on me Like footnotes in someone else's book But I've got chapters burning in my chest And a longing in my look For highway signs and canyon views Where Cormac wrote his violent prose I'll rent a trailer, wait for dawn And see what inspiration knows [Chorus] So I'm dropping out, heading south To where the sky meets barren ground Got a typewriter and a beaten truck And stories waiting to be found In West Texas, where the wind don't lie And the stars spell out my name I'll trade my degree for mystery In this literary game [Bridge] They say I'm crazy, throwing life away But normal never felt like home Out there where the oil rigs pray And coyotes sing their ancient poems I'll work the late shift at some diner Write until my fingers bleed 'Cause dreams don't wait for graduation They just wait for those who need [Final Chorus] So I'm dropping out, heading south To where the sky meets barren ground Got a typewriter and a beaten truck And stories waiting to be found In West Texas, where the wind don't lie And the stars spell out my name I'll trade my degree for mystery In this literary game Yeah, I'll trade my degree for mystery In this literary game [Outro] Just me and the desert now With stories yet untold In the land where writers go to die Or live to strike it gold
