[Intro – Soft Voicemail Static]
(a faint woman’s voice, almost ghostly, in the background)
“You’ll never be anything, Manny…”
(click — acoustic guitar and fiddle slide in slow)
⸻
[Verse 1]
Well, my buckle makes impressions
on the inside of her mind,
she still dreams about the fire
that she swore she’d left behind.
The smoke from all those heartbreak nights
still dances through her hair,
and I’m out here mendin’ fences,
breathin’ God’s good country air.
⸻
[Chorus]
She said I’d never make a name,
but my boots still know the way.
Found my peace in red dirt clay,
and grace in every day.
Didn’t need her love to shine,
just the wind, a song, and time —
yeah, my buckle makes impressions
on the inside of her mind.
⸻
[Verse 2]
There’s a picture on her dresser
with the frame turned face-down,
guess she can’t quite stand to see
the man she threw into the ground.
But the fields remember better —
how we laughed beneath the moon,
now it’s me and ol’ Yuki
howlin’ soft to that same tune.
⸻
[Chorus]
She said I’d never make a name,
but my boots still know the way.
Found my peace in red dirt clay,
and grace in every day.
Didn’t need her love to shine,
just the wind, a song, and time —
yeah, my buckle makes impressions
on the inside of her mind.
⸻
[Bridge – Spoken, over slow fiddle]
“Funny thing, darlin’…
you tried to bury me under that hurt,
but you just planted me deeper.”
(steel guitar bend, fiddle sighs)
⸻
[Verse 3]
Now the morning light comes easy,
coffee steams in quiet rooms,
and every nail I drive reminds me
I was built to make it through.
She can keep her city stories,
I got stars that never lie,
and a heart that hums forgiveness
every time the night rolls by.
⸻
[Final Chorus]
She said I’d never make a name,
but my boots still know the way.
Found my peace in red dirt clay,
and grace in every day.
Didn’t need her love to shine,
just the wind, a song, and time —
yeah, my buckle makes impressions
on the inside of her mind.
