The Plot Gets Twisted

Lyrics

[Introduction] [Verse 1] I grew up believing every word About freedom and the open road A beat-up guitar in the passenger seat And a heart too young to know I was told if you worked hard enough You could build a life from a song That this country made room for dreamers And everybody could belong So I chased every stage they’d give me Every church basement, dive, and hall Thinking somewhere past the state line I’d finally find it all But the farther that I traveled The more the cracks began to show There’s a difference between the story And the truth beneath the glow [Pre-Chorus] Nobody warned me The map and the territory Were two different things [Chorus] The plot gets twisted The heroes aren’t who they said they’d be The people waving all the flags Don’t always stand for liberty The plot gets twisted The script starts falling apart When the greatest country in the world Breaks your naïve little heart And I never meant to be political I just wanted to play my songs But silence starts feeling like surrender When you know something’s wrong The plot gets twisted [Verse 2] I met workers working double shifts Still choosing between rent and pills Veterans sleeping under overpasses While billionaires bought lawmakers’ wills I saw preachers selling fear for profit Wrapped in red, white, and blue Using Jesus like a campaign slogan To justify what they’d do I watched neighbors turn on neighbors Over lies they learned online And politicians getting rich Selling outrage by design The dream wasn’t dead But somebody had stolen pieces And called the theft divine [Pre-Chorus] Nobody warned me Loving your country Might mean telling the truth [Chorus] The plot gets twisted The heroes aren’t who they said they’d be The people waving all the flags Don’t always stand for liberty The plot gets twisted The script starts falling apart When the greatest country in the world Breaks your naïve little heart And I never meant to be political I just wanted to play my songs But silence starts feeling like surrender When you know something’s wrong The plot gets twisted [Bridge] I miss the kid who thought Everything was simple The one who saw a flag And never questioned what it symbolized But innocence isn’t wisdom And comfort isn’t peace And every generation gets a moment When excuses lose their lease So maybe this is mine Maybe the songs were never meant To help people look away Maybe they’re supposed to be a flashlight When somebody kills the power anyway [Final Chorus] The plot gets twisted The dream becomes something else You start out chasing stages And end up finding yourself The plot gets twisted The story takes a turn You realize love isn’t applause It’s having something worth the burn And I still believe in freedom I still believe we’re not too far gone But if this country’s worth saving Then somebody’s gotta sing the alarm I never wanted this assignment But I don’t get to choose what’s true The plot gets twisted And suddenly The song is bigger than you [Outro] I set out to write the soundtrack For the life I’d hoped to live And now I’m wondering if the country Even has a life like that to give