EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT SMELL [INTRO] Shopping bags swinging, noon-day bell, Then the wind said, “Buddy, you know that smell.” [VERSE 1] Walked out of Walmart, list checked off, Paper towels, birdseed, medicine drops, Had supper in the bags, had a sensible plan, Then a little smoke reached out and took my hand. Came floating ’cross the blacktop, warm and slow, Like it already knew which way I’d go, I turned my head—there it was again, Common sense lost to a burger in the wind. [PRE-CHORUS] It don’t need a billboard, It don’t have to yell, One little puff of air— And your heart can tell. [CHORUS] Everybody knows that smell, Coffee in the morning, rain when it fell, Fresh-cut grass and a backyard grill, Clean cotton passing by you still. One little breeze and you’re under its spell, Taking the long way home again— You can argue with your wallet, You can reason with yourself, But everybody knows that smell. [SHORT INSTRUMENTAL RESPONSE] [Weathered guitar answers the chorus; no vocals] [VERSE 2] There’s bread by the bakery, warm through the door, Popcorn working halfway through the store, Sunday chicken drifting over somebody’s fence, Making every good intention lose a little sense. There’s leather in a pickup, sawdust in a shed, Coffee from a diner waking up your head, A clean shirt snapping on a backyard line, And the first rain rising off the road in summertime. [PRE-CHORUS] Memory don’t knock, It don’t ring a bell, It rides in on the air— And your heart can tell. [CHORUS] Everybody knows that smell, Coffee in the morning, rain when it fell, Fresh-cut grass and a backyard grill, Clean cotton passing by you still. One little breeze and you’re under its spell, Taking the long way home again— You can argue with your wallet, You can reason with yourself, But everybody knows that smell. [VERSE 3] Mama’s kitchen hiding in a cinnamon roll, Motor oil and dust on a working man’s clothes, Pine in the mountains, salt along the shore, Some smells take you someplace you’ve already been before. They don’t ask permission, don’t explain where they’ve been, They open an old door and let the whole world in, Aroma keeps a map that the eyes can’t read— One little puff carries everything you need. [EXTENDED GUITAR NARRATIVE] [Eight bars; slow bends, sustained notes, warm organ underneath; no vocals or ad-libs] [BRIDGE] Maybe we ain’t wandering, Maybe we’re being led, By supper on the fire Or a memory in our head. Life leaves little breadcrumbs No road sign could spell— And every now and then, The wind delivers mail. [FINAL CHORUS] Everybody knows that smell, Coffee in the morning, rain when it fell, Fresh-cut grass and a backyard grill, Clean cotton passing by you still. One little breeze and you’re under its spell, Taking the long way home again— You can argue with your wallet, You can reason with yourself, But everybody knows— Oh, everybody knows— Everybody knows that smell. [OUTRO] Shopping bags swinging, Cold groceries as well— Supper rode home with me… But I ate that burger in the parking lot. Everybody knows that smell.
