Steel and Forever

Lyrics

[INTRO] [Clean electric guitar, single notes ringing slow and honest] [Low hum of bass underneath, like an engine idling in the dark] [VERSE 1] Twenty years ago she said she'd ride beside him, Didn't know the road was long and sometimes cold, He had ink in his veins and fire in his fingers, And she had something stronger — she had hold. He was running hard on the engine his daddy built him, She was steady as the stars above this Texas plain, Some women leave when the nights go long and heavy, She leaned in closer, whispered, "I ain't going anywhere." [PRE-CHORUS] They say the road will break you if you let it, But she's the reason he still knows the way back home, Through every mile and every needle and every heartbeat, She's the only place he's never felt alone. [CHORUS] Shelina, you're the steel beneath the thunder, The quiet hand that holds this whole life up, Twenty years of road and ink and wonder, And I still ain't had enough. You're the song I never knew I needed, The flame I didn't know I couldn't fight, Shelina, here's to twenty years, my darlin' — And every road between here and forever's light. [VERSE 2] She watched him build a legend out of nothing, A studio, a culture, and a creed, Stood beside him when the world records were broken, And loved him just the same for what was underneath. Not the guinness and the glory and the fire, But the man who comes home quiet at the end, The one who takes her hand in the dark and says, "Thank God I got a woman I can call my best friend." [PRE-CHORUS] The leather and the chrome and the tattoo needles humming, The rallies and the riders and the road, But pull it all away and here's what still remains standing — A man who found a woman worth more than gold. [CHORUS] Shelina, you're the steel beneath the thunder, The quiet hand that holds this whole life up, Twenty years of road and ink and wonder, And I still ain't had enough. You're the song I never knew I needed, The flame I didn't know I couldn't fight, Shelina, here's to twenty years, my darlin' — And every road between here and forever's light. [BRIDGE] [Half-time, piano comes up, guitar drops to single notes, voice alone over the room] Some men are built for one thing only, And I was built for bikes and ink and speed, But God had better plans for this old outlaw — He put you in my path so I could see. A hundred years won't be enough, Shelina, Ten lifetimes on this road won't make us even, For every storm you stood in right beside me, I owe you every sunrise I've been given. [GUITAR SOLO] [Slide guitar rises from the low end — slow, aching, reverent] [Not shredding, not showing off — weeping, like something that means it] [Full band swells underneath, drums open up, bass walks steady] [Hold the note at the top — let it breathe — then bring it home] [FINAL CHORUS — BIG, FULL BAND, EVERYTHING OPEN] Shelina, you're the steel beneath the thunder, The quiet hand that holds this whole life up, Twenty years of road and ink and wonder, And I still ain't had enough. You're the song I never knew I needed, The flame I didn't know I couldn't fight, Shelina, here's to twenty years, my darlin' — And every road between here and forever's light. [OUTRO — Slow down, back to just guitar and voice] Here's to twenty years, babe. Here's to the next hundred. Here's to every mile you rode beside me When you didn't have to. You're the best thing these hands ever touched — And these hands have done some work. I love you, Shelina. End of road. Beginning of everything. [Single guitar note. Silence.]