Built to Last

Back when a bike and a sidewalk crack

Could take us anywhere and bring us back,

Playing in the road when the summer rain came,

Getting soaked for fun, never caring the same.

Ice cream trucks and scraped-up knees,

Fireflies drifting through the evening breeze,

Had your phone number memorized by heart,

Couldn’t wait to call when the day got dark.

We didn’t know those days were gold,

We were too busy getting old.

We thought forever was ahead,

Somewhere down the road instead,

Passed folded pages in the back of class,

Certain every little moment was built to last.

Singing every word from a burned CD,

Writing our names where we’d always be,

Funny how the years move on and on,

But part of me’s still waiting for the streetlights to come on.

Then summer meant a driver’s seat,

Twenty dollars and a reason to leave,

Riding in the bed of a pickup truck,

Feeling invincible, running on luck.

Friday night plans,

Holding someone’s whole heart in your hands,

Parking lot talks till a quarter past two,

Making big promises we swore we’d do.

We didn’t know those days were gold,

We were too busy growing old.

We thought forever was ahead,

Somewhere down the road instead,

Passed folded pages in the back of class,

Certain every little moment was built to last.

Singing every word from a burned CD,

Writing our names where we’d always be,

Funny how the years move on and on,

But part of me’s still waiting for the streetlights to come on.

Nobody told us we’d miss the noise,

The screen door slam and the neighborhood boys,

The way the whole world fit inside one town,

And how fast the years could slow us down.

Nobody told us we’d spend our lives

Trying to hold on to July nights,

Or that someday we’d give anything

For one more summer feeling.

Now summer rides in the passenger seat,

With little voices kicking at the back of me,

Watching them laugh in the evening light,

Makes me wish I could bottle tonight.

And sometimes a song from years ago

Comes through the speakers soft and low,

And for a second I’m right back there,

With the warm night wind in my hair.

We thought forever was ahead,

Not a memory living in our heads,

Passed folded pages in the back of class,

Never knowing those days would move so fast.

Singing every word from a burned CD,

Still carrying those pieces of me,

Funny how the years move on and on,

But part of me’s still waiting for the streetlights to come on.

Yeah, the years keep moving on and on,

But part of me’s still waiting for the streetlights to come on.