Backroad Outlaw

Lyrics

[Verse 1] I keep a bent six-string by the motel chair Two dead batteries and a county-fair prayer Your photograph is folded in my coat Beside a map with every exit circled in red ink [Pre-Chorus] I left my name where the payphone used to be A little rust, a little rain, a little mercy [Chorus] I’m a backroad outlaw with a borrowed coat Running from the promise I was never meant to hold If you hear my engine coughing past your town Don’t wave me in—I’m better lost than settled down [Verse 2] There’s a sheriff in the diner who remembers my face Says trouble wears cheap boots and never stays in one place I pay for black coffee with the last of my change Then disappear before the jukebox can say my name [Pre-Chorus] The dashboard clock is stuck at half past two Same as the night I drove away from you [Chorus] I’m a backroad outlaw with a borrowed coat Running from the promise I was never meant to hold If you hear my engine coughing past your town Don’t wave me in—I’m better lost than settled down [Bridge] Maybe I was born with a match in my hand Maybe every good thing slips like dust through a man But if the highway keeps one honest mile for me I’ll spend it where the fences end and nobody knows my history [Final Chorus] I’m a backroad outlaw with a borrowed coat Still chasing every bridge I was too proud to burn If you hear my engine coughing past your town Don’t wave me in—I’m better lost than settled down I’m better lost than settled down [Outro] The motel sign keeps buzzing through the rain I turn the key and disappear again