Live Like You Were Dying lyrics

When I'm here on this highway
Breathing diesel smoke
Driving hard for hours
Trying to make that Memphis show
People always ask me
"Son what does it take
To reach out and touch your dreams?"
To them I always say

Are you hungry?
Are you thirsty?
Is it a fire that burns you up inside?
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you need it?
Are you eating, sleeping, dreaming

My old friend, I recall
The times we had hanging on my wall
I wouldn't trade them for gold
Cause they laugh and they cry me
Somehow sanctify me
Their woven in the stories I have told
And tell again

My old friend, I apologize
For the years that have passed
Since the last time you and I
Dusted off those memories
But the running and the races
The people and the places

1986 Harley
Blowing smoke and sucking oil
My daddy said, 'Buy it and you're crazy boy'
You can't tell me nothin'
It took me a year to fix it up
And one day to lay her down
I got a little hitch in my get-along now
You can't tell me nothin'

Talk is cheap and free advice
Is worth the price you pay
I had to find out for myself the hard way
You can't tell me nothin'

On a lover's lee with a freeway view
Sittin' on my hood
Thinkin' bout you
Going over in my mind
Every kiss and every fire
Yeah the fool on the hill
Is leading down another night

There were days so hard
I thought I had to go
I'd get in my car
And just follow the road
But this is my home
And it's who I am
And I know I'd stay
If I could make this old town new again

He said I was in my early 40's,
With a lot of life before me,
And a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
I spent most of the next days, lookin' at the x-rays,
Talkin' 'bout the options and talkin' 'bout sweet time.
Asked him when it sank in, that this might really be the real end.
How's it hit ya, when you get that kind of news.
Man what ya do.
And he says,

[Chorus]

In my home town
For anyone who sticks around
You're either lost or you're found
There's not much in between
In my home town
Everything's still black and white
It's a long, long way from wrong to right
From Sunday morning to Saturday night

Everybody just wants to get high
Sit and watch a perfect world go by
We're all looking for love and meaning in our lives

Don't you remember
The fizz in a pepper
Peanuts in a bottle
At ten, two and four
A fried bologna sandwich
With mayo and tomato
Sittin' round the table
Don't happen much anymore
We got too complicated
It's all way over-rated
I like the old and out-dated
Way of life

Back when a hoe was a hoe
Coke was a coke
And crack's what you were doing
When you were cracking jokes

Think something's broken then again nothin's smokin'
Or shakin' or chokin' like my ol' truck
But I think something's broken
And I think it's worth notin'
It started about the time
She got all packed up
Could be my ego could be my pride
Or maybe my calm cool collective side
Might be my heart comin' eye to eye
With the truth she wasn't jokin'

Think something's broken

Here's to the corners yet to turn
Here's to the bridges yet to burn
Here's to the whole thing blown apart
It's open season on my heart
The days go by like flying bricks
Leave gaping holes too deep to fix
I'd just stay home if I were smart
It's open season on my heart

I can't blame anyone but me
This reckless fool I've come to be
My tired excuses just don't fit

Well Joe got a promotion
He's up there on top
Everybody was cheerin' him on
He deserves everything he's got
Guess who's the new talk of the town
The new S.O.B.
The one everybody loves cuttin' down
Man it's a sight to see
They all smile right to his face, and hide the jealousy
Me I'm just working hard to get to that place,
Where everybody hates me

(Now check this out)

In the fights they had he'd cover up his ears
Thought big boys don't cry, fought back all the tears
Mama'd use her make up, to hide the bruises on his face
In the morning they'd pretend that there'd never ever been a trace
His old man woke him up to help him find the car
Take the bus uptown outside some rundown bar
And swore that he was quittin
And then he'd start to cry

I'm just a blank sheet of paper
This fool's about to write you a letter
To tell you that he's sorry
For the way he did you wrong
To ask for your forgiveness
For leavin you alone

He's been lookin down at me
It seems like forever
He takes the top on and off his pen
It's like he can't decide
What he wants to say
If he'd just tell the truth
I'd be on my way

Don't know why he does what he does
Playing lost and found with your love
Trying to confuse you, use you
Girl, he's gonna lose you sure enough

Don't know why he says all those things
Always shootin' down all your dreams
He ought to know better than that
He ought to be watching his back
Cause you know, you know

Girl I'd love to shine in your eyes
If only just for a moment

I thought that was your voice
I thought that was my car
Now we ain't ever met before
But I know who you are
You're living in my house
And I'm living in a tent
And don't laugh, this second job of mine
Is paying both our rents
You're out here buying Happy Meals
And I'm eating rice and pintos
You so much as crack a smile at me, man
I'll come through this here window

I'm gonna clean the house
I'm gonna fix the fence
In my final hours
I'm gonna tie up these loose ends
I wont leave a note
For anyone to find
Tomorrow they'll know
What I've done here tonight

[Chorus]
The drastic steps I'm takin'
Are just an act of desperation
I knew no one would miss me
So what the hell
I fought and lied I drank too much
Hurt every one I ever touched

He hasn't seen a drop of rain for months it seems
Rollin' river is nothing but a trickling stream
The crops are dying in the harsh sunlight
The dust on his tongue is dry
The fatted calf is down to skin and bones
We carry on

Alone in the city and she's only seventeen
The boy left her black and blue in the street so mean
Just twelve weeks along and she's got a life inside