[Verse 1]
Seventeen, cheap boots, high school dust on my jeans
Mama cried at the table
Daddy stared straight through the steam
I said, "There’s a whole wide world
Past this county line"
Signed my name in that office
Shook a hand, changed my life
[Chorus]
I was just seventeen, chasin’ somethin’ blue
Found my name on a ship
Found my faith in a crew
From a one-stoplight town
To a wide, wild sea
Boy turned to a man
When the navy took me
[Verse 2]
First night out, bunk bed, duffel bag for a drawer
Boot camp bark in the morning
Feet sore, heart a little more sure
Letters home on Sunday
Ink smudged, short on sleep
Told Mom the food was awful
Told Dad it ain’t that deep
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
Salt on my lips
Wind in my hair
Thought of that gravel drive
Like it was right there
Seventeen candles
I missed that year
But I found my backbone
Somewhere out here
[Chorus]