my old shoes

I remember walking through life in my old shoes
Worn down heels and a broken lace
Every step I took, I thought I had to choose
Between the road and the resting place
I knew every crack in the sidewalk by name
Every puddle, every hill
I thought I knew the rules to the game
But I was standing still

**Pre-Chorus:**
Then the rain came down
Washed the dust off the ground

**Chorus:**
And I don't walk the way I used to walk
I don't talk the way I used to talk
I traded in my certainty
For a pair of eyes that finally see
That the old shoes kept me safe but kept me small
Now I'm walking, now I'm walking
Now I'm walking tall

I remember thinking comfort was the same as home
That familiar pinch meant I belonged
I wore those shoes until the soles were gone
Singing someone else's song
But there's a difference between fitting in and being free
Between the path and where it leads
I had to lose the shoes to find the feet
That were waiting underneath

**Pre-Chorus:**
Then the rain came down
Washed the dust off the ground

**Chorus:**
And I don't walk the way I used to walk
I don't talk the way I used to talk
I traded in my certainty
For a pair of eyes that finally see
That the old shoes kept me safe but kept me small
Now I'm walking, now I'm walking
Now I'm walking tall

Some people spend their whole lives
In the same pair of shoes
Never knowing what it feels like
To have nothing left to lose
But I'd rather feel the gravel
Than the ghost of where I've been
I'd rather start again

**Final Chorus:**
So I don't walk the way I used to walk
I don't talk the way I used to talk
I left my footprints in the past
Found a freedom built to last
Those old shoes kept me safe but kept me small
Now I'm walking, now I'm walking
Now I'm walking tall

**Outro:**
I remember walking through life in my old shoes
Sometimes I miss the way they felt
But I'd rather have the blisters
Than the belt

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Mid-tempo grove-sexy-raspy, jazzy building verses to an anthemic chorus.