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"Maps" Lyrics

Maps

I left home when I was twenty-four

To leave the kid I was behind (for good)

I cut my hand on some glass the night before

So the wheel was sticky with my blood

A compass, an atlas, and a truck full of odds and ends

I was too heavy to disappear (with her)

As Ryan sang “Won’t you miss your friends?”

I cried because I wasn’t sure

(C) And I was following the roads

As they spread out like veins from the heart of my home

Outrunning all my ghosts

The blank spaces on the map are where I’ll always roam

We settled down into the middle of nowhere

Then she said that it was time for her (to go)

I’d stand in the darkness at the edge of town and stare

I’ve never felt more alone

I fell in love, when I was twenty-six

With a sad girl who loved the road (like me)

But she had a home, and a family that she missed

We both knew it wasn’t meant to be

She slept in my bed while I sat and smoked out front

And Radiohead played Karma (Police)

I realized sometimes you can’t get what you want

But you might still get what you need

(C)

The summer when I turned twenty-nine

I crossed the country on highway (two)

It was me and Neal, and a new best friend of mine

And that same old atlas to see us through

It took eight days, through forests, dunes, and plains

We drove all day and slept out in (the air)

And in the end, the wisdom of all that space

Descended on us like an asphalt prayer

Now me and my best friend, we live out in the woods

But I still hear the road singing (its song)

And every time I do, I put down all my shoulds

And hope that she’ll still come along

(C)

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