StoryAlive is my favorite lyric I've written. It came from listening to too much Bruce Springsteen and growing up in a small town.
Maybe we're the weird ones, but in the town I grew up, we didn't drive out to cornfields and drink beer on tailgates on the weekends. I had friends who were far more "country" than I am who never even heard of that kind of thing happening except for on the radio. We spent our time driving around, killing time, looking for somewhere to go and talking about leaving town someday. I did end up leaving town, but I've run into a lot of guys I grew up with who are still living at home, looking for work, still talking about leaving, knowing that they probably never will. Nothing wrong with any of that, but I just wonder what my life would've looked like had I never left. I bet I would've enjoyed sticking around. But I bet I would've missed some opportunities. I wrote this one with a co-writer in Nashville. We had this guitar lick going but the lyrics weren't coming to us. We took a break for a minute and I ran to grab a coffee. While I was filling my cup, the line, "The highway's the only thing leaving this town, everyone settles for settling down" just came to me and we went from there. The key line in my opinion is "I'll be your hero someday." Don't we all do that? We make promises to ourselves and to others based on somedays. Someday we'll get out of town. Someday we'll be better. Someday we'll chase our dreams. Someday. I don't want to build my life on somedays. They rarely happen. |
LyricsWritten by: Matt Jordan and Bobby McLamb
Download the song Verse:
The highway's the only thing leaving this town Everyone settles for settling down You're an overnight hero if you make it out Honey I'll be your hero someday We park up on the bridge, watch the cars down below Talk about where they're going and freedom and hope What's keeping us here are the things we don't know So we keep watching time slip away Chorus: Well the birds in the trees ain't singing this evening The river and creeks have run dry It's a settlers town, ain't no room for dreaming No future we're leaving behind Leaving's the difference between living and being alive Verse: I ain't no Casanova or silver screen star No smooth-talking James Dean to hijack your heart Ain't much to my name but this hand me down car And a full tank of gas we can burn We can fire up the engine and kick up some dust We ain't gonna shine till we shake off the rust Get this town full of small talkers talking about us Hit the pedal and let the wheels turn Chorus: Well the birds in the trees ain't singing this evening The river and creeks have run dry It's a settlers town, ain't no room for dreaming No future we're leaving behind Leaving's the difference between living and being alive Bridge: It's four lanes to a new life We can find it tonight Leaving's the difference between living and being alive Leaving's the difference between living and being alive Outro: You're an overnight hero if you make it out Honey I'll be your hero someday |