Nashville Fade

First thing you're told
in new school clothes
everyone is keeping score
passing notes, watching close
then you leave
and life keeps going
life keeps going on
no one's watching,
no one ever was

Free is how it's sold
kids can't die,
but kids weren't meant to live this long
they must grow
with young dreams starving slow
but life keeps going
life keeps going on
the season's changing
everything must go

How do you wake up
when you know
you'll do this for decades more?
learn new codes,
still you're lapped when you fall
life keeps going
life keeps going on
mostly waiting,
but you don't live all at once

I've sung in the dark
i have worn jackets full of bullet holes
down trapdoors
with lines i wrote,
facing north
life keeps going
life keeps going on
nashville fading
like a forgotten song