Bowling

Lyrics

Verse 1 I was always the one carrying the weight nobody saw, Cold steel in the glovebox, old convictions in my thoughts. Every town looked the same beneath the dashboard glow at night, And every wrong I swore I’d settle only blurred the lines of right. There was a diner by the highway where the coffee never changed, And I’d sit there with my memories pretending they were strange. The jukebox played familiar songs, the kind that make you stay, But I was always headed somewhere I could never quite explain. Verse 2 I kept something close beside me for the nights that never healed, Like a habit I called protection, like a card I wouldn’t reveal. Thought it made me stronger somehow, thought it kept the dark at bay, But some things get heavier with every mile they stay. The faces in the rearview mirror faded one by one, Leaving only scattered stories and the things I’d left undone. I wore my silence like a uniform nobody else could see, And every road I took kept winding back eventually. Chorus Now I wonder who I became somewhere along the road, Carrying more than I needed, holding tighter than I should. The years keep rolling past like headlights fading one by one, And it’s hard to tell the difference between the burden and the gun. I spent so long believing every shadow had a name, Now the ghosts and I just nod as we pass each other in the rain. And the night keeps asking questions that the morning never does, About the man I thought I was. Verse 3 There was a time I’d count the score like it meant something in the end, Keeping lists of all the losses, all the people who weren’t friends. I knew every hidden doorway, every place to disappear, Like a figure moving quietly when the coast was finally clear. But the older that I get, the less certain that I know, Some battles don’t have winners, just survivors when they’re over. And the faces I once cursed have all grown older too, Probably carrying their own versions of the truth. Chorus Now I wonder who I became somewhere along the road, Carrying more than I needed, holding tighter than I should. The years keep rolling past like headlights fading one by one, And it’s hard to tell the difference between the burden and the gun. I spent so long believing every shadow had a name, Now the ghosts and I just nod as we pass each other in the rain. And the night keeps asking questions that the morning never does, About the man I thought I was. Bridge The neon flickers in the window of a place that’s closing down, A few last voices in the distance, a few chairs turned upside down. I can almost hear the echoes of the person I once knew, Certain of where he was headed, certain of what he’d do. But certainty’s a funny thing—it leaves without a sound, And all that’s left are footprints disappearing from the ground. Outro So I’ll drive a little farther till the darkness starts to fade, Past the exits and the landmarks and the choices that I made. And maybe peace is nothing more than setting something down, Letting old convictions rest where they can’t follow you around. The highway stretches westward and the horizon meets the sun, And for the first time in a long while, I’m not carrying anyone. Not the ghosts, not the grudges, not the man I used to be, Just the road ahead of me.