[Instrumental Intro] (Warm acoustic guitar picking, a slow fiddle melody enters, followed by a crying pedal steel guitar) [Verse 1] (deep baritone voice, close-mic voice, Sparse instrumentation, soft acoustic guitar and soft bass only) Main Street looks a little smaller now Than it did back when I was twenty-two The old Crooked "ess" Road was a dirt road we used to tear right up, Is paved over, neat and clean But if I close my eyes, I can smell the dust And see the taillights fading slow Funny how a modern highway line Can take you back to where you used to know, Yeah, can take you back to where you used to know. [Pre-Chorus] (deep baritone voice, close-mic voice, Soft snare drum pattern starts building the rhythm) Yeah, the clock keeps moving, the seasons turn And the map changes every year But the radio plays that same old tune from WSM, And suddenly you're standing right here [Chorus] [Full Band] (close-mic voice, deep baritone voice, Big dynamic lift: Driving drums, layered guitars, soaring fiddle) Underneath that single flashing yellow light We were chasing down the edge of the world With a broken-in truck and a tank of gas And a dream about a hometown girl Yeah, the years roll by like a midnight train, With Casey Jones at the wheel, And you can't outrun the track But it only takes a dashboard song from WSM, To bring an Aspen Hill flashback [Guitar Solo] (Twangy electric guitar solo trading licks with a prominent pedal steel guitar) [Verse 2] (deep baritone voice, close-mic vocals) The old county line sign is rusted through And the Richland Creek runs a little bit low and the catfish are gone, We thought we'd leave it all behind With nowhere left to go But a part of me never left that porch or the rocker, Or the shadow of that water tower sky No matter how far these wheels have rolled It's still written in the corner of my eye [Chorus] (deep baritone voice, close-mic vocals Full energy: Hard-hitting snare backbeat, driving rhythm) Underneath that single flashing yellow light We were chasing down the edge of the world With a broken-in truck and a tank of gas And a dream about a hometown girl Yeah, the years roll by like a midnight train With Casey Jones at the wheel. And you can't outrun the track But it only takes a dashboard song from WSM, To bring an Aspen Hill ...flashback [Outro] (deep baritone voice, close-mic voice Drums fade out, leaving just the acoustic guitar strum and a final, long pedal steel note) Yeah, it brings it all back... Just an Aspen Hill ...flashback. [End]
