32 Never Knew

Screen door slapping shut
Gravel in her drive
Thirty-two and bulletproof
I knew what I had, and I burned it alive
She said stay
I said the band goes on at nine
Tank full of nothing
Radio too loud
Left her standing in the porch light with her shoes in her hand

Every road I took
Led back to the same
Mailbox on the county road
Where the paint wore off her name

Thirty-two never knew what it threw away
Never learned what a good thing costs to lose
There's a ring in a coffee can of rusty nails
And a hole in every room the shape of you
Thirty-two
Never knew

Cigarette burn on the dash
Whiskey in a jar
Told the boys I was chasing something
Never told them how far
Chased a highway
Chased a stage
Chased every cheap thing that would look at me that way

All these years of towns
All of them the same
Every jukebox in America
Knows how to say her name

Thirty-two never knew what it threw away
Never learned what a good thing costs to lose
There's a ring in a coffee can of rusty nails
And a hole in every room the shape of you
Thirty-two
Never knew

Drove back through last fall
Porch light burning gold
Another man's truck where mine used to sit
My two boys in the yard, I never got to hold
I always told it wrong
All these years she took the blame
She never got away from me
I got away from her, and left her with my name

Thirty-two never knew what it threw away
Never learned what a good thing costs to lose
There's a ring in a coffee can of rusty nails
And a hole in every room the shape of you
Thirty-two
Never knew

Bury the fool
Bury the fool in the back of the car
Turn the headlights toward the county line
He don't get to drive no more

Thirty-two never knew