Caged Up Your Heart

[Verse 1]
I held on tight
White-knuckle fingers, midnight drive
You stared straight ahead
Like you were already saying goodbye
I poured my plans
Like coffee in your favorite cup
You just watched them cool
Never even picked it up
[Chorus]
You caged up your heart and you hid the key
Locked every door that could lead back to me
I tried so hard just to hold on to you
But loving you was something I couldn't undo
I gave all I had, you still pulled away
You caged up your heart and you threw the key away
[Verse 2]
I patched the holes
In this old house we tried to build
You packed your suitcase
Left your toothbrush on the window sill
Your picture's turned
Face-down in a drawer somewhere
But I still talk
Like you're standing in the kitchen there
[Chorus]
You caged up your heart and you hid the key
Locked every door that could lead back to me
I tried so hard just to hold on to you
But loving you was something I couldn't undo
I gave all I had, you still pulled away
You caged up your heart and you threw the key away
[Bridge]
Maybe someday you'll drive past this town (oh-oh)
See that porch light, think about sticking around
But by then my hands
They'll be tired, they'll be free
From reaching through those bars
You built between you and me
[Chorus]
You caged up your heart and you hid the key
Turned out the light on the best part of me
I tried so hard just to hold on to you
Till I learned letting go was all left to do
I gave all I had, now I'm walking away
From the cage and the heart
And the key you threw away

country, Modern country ballad, mid-tempo sway with warm acoustic guitars, brushed kit, and pedal steel lines weaving in and out. Male vocals, intimate and slightly raspy; verses stay close and conversational, chorus widens with stacked harmonies and a rising fiddle line. Subtle organ pad glues the mix, last chorus adds ad-libbed phrases and a held final note over a lingering steel bend.