[Intro] [Verse 1] I can feel it before I see the sign The flat land pressing down like it remembers me Like the ground has been waiting Like Ohio keeps a record Of everyone who left and came back anyway The water towers look the same The highway exits look the same The feeling in my chest when I hit the city limits Looks exactly the same As the day I drove away [Pre-Chorus] I didn't come back because I wanted to I came back because some part of me Never actually left [Chorus] Rust and root That's what's in me Rust and root I can't get clean Every city I've slept in Every highway I've burned I carry Ohio In everything I've earned Rust and root It made me Rust and root I can't leave [Verse 2] I drive past the house I grew up in Don't stop, don't slow down, don't look too long There's someone else's car in the driveway Someone else's life in the yard And I'm grateful and I'm gutted And I keep driving I know every pothole on this street I know which diner's still open at 3am I know the sound the wind makes Coming off Lake Erie in November I know this place like a wound I've memorized I know it like a home I couldn't keep [Pre-Chorus] I didn't come back because I wanted to I came back because the root Goes all the way down [Chorus] Rust and root That's what's in me Rust and root I can't get clean Every city I've slept in Every highway I've burned I carry Ohio In everything I've earned Rust and root It made me Rust and root I can't leave [Bridge] I hate what this place did to people I love I hate the way the jobs left and the people stayed I hate the way it taught me to call suffering normal And I love it I love it the way you love the first thing That ever made you feel real [Breakdown] I AM RUST — I AM ROOT I AM RUST — I AM ROOT I CANNOT — LEAVE THIS I CANNOT — LEAVE THIS BEHIND [Outro] Rust and root... All the way down...
