[Intro: dusty guitar, dry snare] Steam on a two lane outside Needles in glare Cap in my palm and a cousin with a thin map to spare [Verse 1] Car coughed once then the needle kissed the red like a dare We coasted to the shoulder with hazards in the glare Radiator hissing like a kettle that forgot how to rest I twist the cap with a rag and a prayer and a half joke jest Cousin Marcus swears the tow will come before the sun goes mean I say the phone has one bar and a battery living on caffeine We sit on the hood like kings of a kingdom made of heat Pass a warm water bottle and invent a better street He wants a kitchen in a city where the rent is not a war I want a shop with a lift and a sign above the door Neither has the money but the desert lets you talk Like the future is a spare waiting in the chalk [Hook: chanted, group answers] Radiator cap, radiator cap Hot metal in the hand Radiator cap, radiator cap Waiting on the sand Steam and a shoulder and a map that fibs a little Cousins inventing paychecks in the middle Radiator cap, radiator cap Do not twist it dry Radiator cap, radiator cap Watch the needle lie We laugh because the panic would not help the tow arrive So we turn the breakdown into plans we might survive [Verse 2] Lizard on the guardrail watches like a landlord with a lease Truckers blow past and the wind tastes like oil and old grease Marcus names the towns he will skip and the ones he will claim I name the tools I will buy when the first real check has a name Auntie said Needles eats the weak and the late We are not weak we are boiling with a joke and a fate Tow truck finally crawls like a miracle with a dent Driver asks what happened and we both invent an event Truth was a belt we ignored for a week Pride said keep driving till the engine learned to speak Cap sits cooling in a cup holder sticky with dust Proof that a plan can start when a machine goes bust [Double-Time Switch: stacked, no commas] Steam on the hood temp needle kissed the red coast to the shoulder twist the cap with a rag Marcus swears the tow phone on one bar battery living on a dare and a joke we invent Sit on the hood pass the water name a kitchen name a shop neither has the money desert lets you talk like the future is a spare with a chalk line bent Lizard on the rail truckers blow past oil and grease towns he will claim tools I will buy auntie said Needles we laugh at the heat and the rent Tow crawls in dented ask what happened we invent a belt we ignored pride kept us rolling till the metal learned to vent [Hook] Radiator cap, radiator cap Hot metal in the hand Radiator cap, radiator cap Waiting on the sand Steam and a shoulder and a map that fibs a little Cousins inventing paychecks in the middle Radiator cap, radiator cap Do not twist it dry Radiator cap, radiator cap Watch the needle lie We laugh because the panic would not help the tow arrive So we turn the breakdown into plans we might survive [Chopper Burst: triplet bounce, flow switch] Cap then the steam then the needle then the shoulder then the rag then the prayer then the phone then the bar then the water then the kitchen then the shop then the spare then the chalk then the talk we invent Lizard then the rail then the truckers then the grease then the towns then the tools then the auntie then the laugh then the tow then the dent then the belt then the pride then the vent we repent Cousins on a hood in a desert with a plan that is half a lie and half a map and all the love that a breakdown can invent and present Radiator cap cooling in a cup is a trophy for the day we learned the future starts when the engine has to stop and relent [Verse 3] Shop got built later in a town that smelled like rain Marcus texts a kitchen with a coffee stain We keep the cap in a drawer like a lucky charm Breakdown taught patience and a desert calm Friendship is a shoulder when the needle hits the red And a joke you keep telling till the tow finds your head [Final Hook] Radiator cap, radiator cap Hot metal in the hand Radiator cap, radiator cap Waiting on the sand Steam and a shoulder and a map that fibs a little Cousins inventing paychecks in the middle Radiator cap, radiator cap Do not twist it dry Radiator cap, radiator cap Watch the needle lie We laugh because the panic would not help the tow arrive So we turn the breakdown into plans we might survive [Outro: dusty guitar] Steam on a two lane outside Needles in glare Cap in my palm and a cousin with a thin map to spare
