Luckier by Half Coda (EP)

If I sidled up to the bar

At the corner of North Clark and West Leland

They'd set me up with a shot

And a "here 'til closing kinda smile" and you ain't leaving

All I ever wanted was a place and a stage with this kind of feeling

And a little bar to call my own on the corner of North Clark and West Leland

Dear Chicago

How I've missed you

How I wish I could be there

Sweating out four hours on a stage

It's funny how a place can feel like home upon stepping in

Dear Chicago

I can't wait to see you again

I flew in Kate for the night

Cause it's the kind of place

where the believing is in the seeing

My buddy Dingo's at the bar

'Cause some girl was careless with his heart

And these walls are healing

And all our friends from home who feel the same about this place

They're all out there, singing

At the little bar to call my own on the corner of North Clark and West Leland

Dear Chicago

How I've missed you

How I wish I could be there

Sweating out four hours on a stage

It's funny how a place can feel like home upon stepping in

Dear Chicago

I can't wait to see you again

I've put down all the miles

From New York to Los Angeles

Hit every highway stop

From Gainesville to Texas

But I've found no other place or stage with this kind of feeling

The little bar I call my own, on the corner of North Clark and West Leland

Dear Chicago

How I've missed you

How I wish I could be there

Sweating out four hours on a stage

It's funny how a place can feel like home upon stepping in

Dear Chicago

I can't wait to see you again

He handed me the keys

And his dog-eared Chilton

For full size Chevys, from '81-'84

And I found freedom in

Socket wrenches

And a can't-kill-it V8

off the line in Detroit

It wasn't much for looking

But I could keep it running

It was two-tone grey with rusted trim

I'll never feel that free again

Eighteen in the evening

With wheels and twenty bucks to spend

Now, it's been years since I touched a wrench

But my kinda dreamin' American

Is a tank of gas, nowhere to be, and an '83 with the heart of Michigan

The heart of Michigan

I pulled the headliner down at Everett's

From an old doorless Ford

Hardwired an aftermarket Pioneer to the quartz clock in the dashboard

I ran brakelines, swapped calipers

Thermostats, an alterantor

Patched the sheetmetal where the rust got in the floorboards

It was two-tone grey with rusted trim

I'll never feel that free again

Eighteen in the evening

With wheels and twenty bucks to spend

Now, it's been years since I touched a wrench

But my kinda dreamin' American

Is a tank of gas, nowhere to be, and an '83 with the heart of Michigan

The heart of Michigan

Said it's the dream that makes America, not the other way around

Said it's the dream that makes America, not the other way around

Said it's the dream that makes America, not the other way around

Said it's the dream that makes America, not the other way around

It was two-tone grey with rusted trim

I'll never feel that free again

Eighteen in the evening

With wheels and twenty bucks to spend

Now, it's been years since I touched a wrench

But my kinda dreamin' American

Is a tank of gas, nowhere to be, and an '83 with the heart from Michigan

The heart of Michigan

The heart of Michigan

The heart of Michigan

He handed me the keys

And his dog-eared Chilton

For full size Chevys, from '81-'84

I sold my Martin for a song

I sold my Gibson to pay the rent

I sold my soul to the stage and the roads between

Now I'm wondering where they went

Now I've got stories I can't find a way to tell

But I can tell you this

In a world that's gone to hell

Writing songs that I can't sell

Your love lets me write 'em like a wish

It ain't the green light that I'm chasing

Never had to change my name to impress you with its sound

So I will sing your song forever

And all you Daisys can go to hell

I think it's OK to lick your wounds sometimes

When you're just another reckless Irish heart

So I put the things that I know in their order

When I go looking for where I start

Chasing money on a Monday again

She helps me believe its not forever

I'm still learning that I'm at my best

When I celebrate the shit that's good

Instead of ripping down the idiots

It ain't the green light that I'm chasing

Never had to change my name to impress you with its sound

So I will sing your song forever

And all you Daisys can go to hell

I paid a fortune for a little blue check

It wasn't my intent

The swill merchants laughed all the way to the bank

It didn't change who I am

I'm never doing that again

It ain't the green light that I'm chasing

Never had to change my name to impress you with its sound

So I will sing your song forever

And all you Daisys can go to hell

I said, it ain't the green light that I'm chasing

Never had to change my name to impress you with its sound

So I will sing your song forever

And all you Daisys can go to hell, I said

All you Daisys can go to hell, I said

All you Daisys can go to hell

They said

"You better be careful

You're too damn young to feel this way"

They said

"You'll wind up by yourselves together

Never knowing that we hoped for the same"

You would've been a hell of a heartbreak

Your leaving would've left me hollow

I never had to take the long way 'round

All the places we used to go

Never had to lie awake

And learn to hate Cameron or Counting Crow(e)s

Yeah, you're the kind of heartbreak

I knew that I did not want to know

Woah, know

Woah, no

Woah

They said

"You better be careful

You're too damn young for love to stay"

They said

"You're not ready for forever"

Never knowing that we wouldn't want it any other way

You would've been a hell of a heartbreak

Your leaving would've left me hollow

I never had to take the long way 'round

All the places we used to go

Never had to lie awake

And learn to hate Cameron or Counting Crow(e)s

Yeah, you're the kind of heartbreak

I knew that I did not want to know

Woah, know

Woah, no

Woah

They said,

"You better be careful

You're too damn young"

You would've been a hell of a heartbreak

Your leaving would've left me hollow

I never had to take the long way 'round

All the places we used to go

Never had to lie awake

And learn to hate Cameron or Counting Crow(e)s

Yeah, you're the kind of heartbreak

I knew that I did not want to know

Woah, know

Woah, no

Woah