We played a show last night
At Pep’s Bar & Lanes
To a rowdy crowd of skateboarders
There from out of state
They all spilled out on the street
When the bar finally closed
Jeremy’s shooting fireworks
Out of the bell of his trombone

As I watched the roman candles
Spit and sizzle through the dark
You drifted into my mind like blood
Across the nose of a shark
I felt a kick of cretin craving
And romance soften my spine
I was as likely to resist you
As a pine needle on the tide
I was as likely to rеsist you
As a pine needle on the tidе

I woke up sweating in my sleeping bag
Mosquitoes pestering my brow
This park was dark and empty
Last night when I laid down
But now the day has overrun me
The tide’s rising and my boot’s stuck
I didn’t mean to still be here
Hungover when the kids showed up
I didn’t mean to still be here
And hungover when the kids showed up

So I packed up my sleeping bag
And pull out the gazetteer
When you wake up in Big Sandy
You’re a long drive from anywhere
You were up in the Mission Mountains
Halfway across the state
It felt crazy to drive that far but far
Worse to go the other way

If I just drove home directly
It’d already be a drive
So maybe I should just push it
Over the Jocko Divide
And chalk it up to Sunday
The price of gas and the Big Sky
When really I’m just giving in
To this wishful heart of mine
The engine light’s on, my stomach’s growling
My back is tired from sleeping on the ground
But my heart wants to go for a drive
Yeah, my heart wants to go for a drive

Montana is an ocean
With a lot of open sea between the towns
And leagues of power lines that slouch and slip
Like waves lapping on a prow
And all that nothing on the radio
All that alfalfa for a view
Gives me plenty of time to wonder if you think of me
The way I think of you
Gives me plenty of time to wonder if you think of me
The way I think of you

It might just be a waste of time
I know it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense
It could be a mutiny of romance
For the slim plunder of a kiss
Either way, it’s the summertime
And the day is long and warm
So maybe I’ll keep on driving
Just to feel the sun on my left arm

When I get there, she’s ambivalent
That I made the drive at all
When I tell her how far I’ve come
I get a patronizing nod
I tell myself she’s from the East Coast
And doesn’t grasp the Western scale
Though I know that I’ve misjudged her
And made of her my great white whale
Though I know that I’ve misjudged her
And made of her my great white whale