Steal This Song – The Lyrics

01 Feb Steal This Song – The Lyrics

In the summer of 2013, I took on the challenge of writing a road song.  During a tour out to Michigan, I gathered inspiration from things I overheard and saw (Check out my previous post Steal This Song – Redux to see a list of those inspirations).  Now I just had to turn these seemingly unrelated items into a set of lyrics.

I had to get back from Traverse City, MI to Colorado in 2 days in order to catch a flight to San Diego, CA where my family would be waiting for me.  The first day I got up at the crack of dawn and drove through to Des Moines, IA.  During the ride, I pieced together the thoughts I had jotted down into semi-coherent lyrics.  They changed a little bit afterwards, but not much.  I didn’t have any music, but the lyrics at least were done.  The problem was I had nothing to work on for the next day, so the drive from Des Moines to Denver was really long.  I should’ve paced myself.

Oh well, at any rate the lyrics are…

I’ll see you in a week, 10 days at the most
I do recall the promise that I made
But a promise is a bird that can’t be kept for long
And how long ago that was I cannot say

The river’s always flowing slowly out of town
In the rail yard they’re hitching up those trains
Seems nothing here was ever really meant to stick around
So I suppose that I’ll be on my way

And you can steal this song
I won’t mind
I’ll move on and leave it behind
And when you say that it’s yours
I won’t say a word

I’m headed into the mouth of another storm
Even so, it’s always just the same
The mile ahead exactly like the one I left behind
I’m not expecting too much of a change

Seems I’m always leaving just when things get good
I’ll never know how anything turns out
So while you’re back there dancing in the square, I’ll be here
Miles away, watching rain come down

And you can steal this song
I won’t mind
I’ll move on and leave it behind
And when you say that it’s yours
I won’t say a word

How can you ever know just how far it is
When you don’t have anywhere to go
But if my luck holds I might find a place to lay my head
So I suppose I’ll move on down the road

You never know what giants you might have to fight
Underdogs do not get to choose
So find me in the bar toppling Goliath
With a cup of beer and nothing left to lose

And you can steal this song
I won’t mind
I’ll move on and leave it behind
And when you say that it’s yours
I won’t say a word