People Get Old

(album: The Tree - 2018)

Someone said "Youth is wasted on the young"
I spilled every last drop of time that summer in the sun
My daddy had a Timex watch
Cigarette in his hand and a mouthful of scotch
Spinning me around like a tilt-a-whirl on his arm

Houses need paint, winters bring snow
Kids, come on in before your supper gets cold
Collection plates and daddy's billfold
And that's how it goes
You live long enough, people get old

I sat up right beside him in the cabin of that truck
Going thirty miles-an-hour down a side road talking 'bout the fish we caught
And I'm older now than he was then
If I could go back in time, I would in a second
To his beat-up blue jeans and a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off

Houses need paint, winters bring snow
Kids growing up and seeking out the window
Hitting every small-town dirt road
And that's how it goes
You live long enough and people get old
Yeah, people get old

Daddy keeps busy in the aftenoons playing cards by himself
And he shouldn't be shoveling that first snow, but you know he won't take the help
Full of pride and love, he don't say too much but hell, he never did
And you still think he's forty-five and he still thinks that you're a kid

One day you'll find yourself saying the things that he said
You'll be walking down the hallway, turning off every light switch
When you twirl your kids in your arms
Before you know it, it won't take too long
They'll be running off making a life just like you did

Houses need paint, winters bring snow
Nothing says "love" like a band of gold
Babies grow up and houses get sold
And that's how it goes
Time is a thief, pain is a gift
The past is the past, it is what it is
Every line on your face tells a story somebody knows
That's just how it goes
You live long enough and the people you love get old