I picture Steve at the factory, his fingers feel like wire
There's got to be 'bout a million better ways to spend eleven hours
In his head he's already quit, and when he finishes this shift watch him drive
To a place where the sky opens up and he sits with the crickets and writes
Of stars over Washington, and knives in the front
I know you can only eat caterpillars for so long
Before a beautiful butterfly emerges from your mouth
An emerald, an anthem, a song
Jon and Johnny, Eric and I
Set a course for the north but we're only bringing our bikes
See us pedal like devils across state lines
Sing to the crows and shout at the vanishing light
Well the Swiatlowski brothers better get up
Find us lost in a river in southern Vermont
Alone in the forest, singing a chorus, fearless
The hopeful and the unafraid
There's jobs and there's bills and there's brain cells to kill
Tonight let's abandon the bars
There's Cumberland Farms and its parking lot charms
Tonight we'll surrender our cars
And lay in back yards with thrift store guitars
Wear poison ivy like battle scars of a summer where I know we tried so hard
And it wasn't a fight, but we won