[Verse 1]
I chased a thousand crowded rooms
New tattoos and borrowed shoes
Tried on every version of me
Cafés
Couches
Temporary keys
I learned the names of every train
Thought distance meant a different brain
But every mirror
Every glare
Just showed a stranger staring there
[Chorus]
So I’m going back
Back where I began
Where the dirt knows my name
Where they call me who I am
I’ve been running in circles
Through every foreign plan
Came up empty in the cities
Found myself back where I began
[Verse 2]
Old front porch with the crooked rail
Mailbox rust and hometown mail
My jacket on the kitchen chair
Like it knew I’d reappear
Mom still hums that same old tune
Dad’s old boots by my old room
I breathe in dust and memory
And feel it all sit right in me
[Chorus]
So I’m going back
Back where I began
Where the dirt knows my name
Where they call me who I am
I’ve been running in circles
Through every borrowed plan
Came up empty in the cities
Found myself back where I began
[Bridge]
Thought I had to cross that line
Trade my story
Change my spine
Turns out all those miles I roamed
Were just a long way
A long way home (oh)
[Chorus]
So I’m staying back
Back where I began
Where the dirt knows my name
Where they call me who I am
All the running in circles
Led me right to who I am
I was lost out in the distance
Til I stood
Back where I began