Shadow of the Sirens

[Verse 1]
Cigars and whiskey
Burnin’ slow in this truck stop light
Fingerprints of blackened days
On these hands that used to fight
Used to ride that screaming ladder
Run headfirst into the smoke
Now it’s just mile markers
And this cab that smells like oak
[Chorus]
Just a shadow of the sirens I chased
All those nights I stared danger in the face
They called me hero, I just called it goin’ in
Now I haul steel and grain, watch the world roll past again
I was fire and I was flood
Now I’m chrome and diesel blood
In the dark, with the dash glowin’ bright
It’s a cigars and whiskey kind of night
[Verse 2]
Roadhouse TV in the corner
Shows a crew kickin’ down a door
I flinch at the flash of amber
Hear a voice from ’94
Boy trapped on the second story
We walked him through that rain of glass
These days my biggest battle
Is the ghost in the rearview glass
[Chorus]
Just a shadow of the sirens I chased
All those nights I stared danger in the face
They called me hero, I just called it goin’ in
Now I haul steel and grain, watch the world roll past again
I was fire and I was flood
Now I’m chrome and diesel blood
In the dark, with the dash glowin’ bright
It’s a cigars and whiskey kind of night
[Bridge]
Was it worth all the scars and the names I can’t say
Every shift, every prayer, every life that got away
If I’m only a story told at some old station bar
Why’s my heart still racing at the wail of a passing car
[Chorus]
Just a shadow of the sirens I chased
All those nights I stared danger in the face
They called me hero, I just called it goin’ in
Now I chase dotted lines, try to outrun what’s been
I was fire and I was flood
Still got smoke inside my blood
In the dark, with the dash glowin’ bright
It’s a cigars and whiskey kind of night
Yeah, it’s a cigars and whiskey kind of night

Gritty, mid-tempo country ballad with male vocals; dusty barroom drums and worn-in telecaster twang over a steady bass line. Verses stay close and intimate with brushed snares and low organ pad; chorus swells with harmony stacks, pedal steel cries, and a touch of overdriven guitar. Bridge strips back to vocal and acoustic before a final full-band lift and lingering guitar tail.