Teeth Marks on the Wheel
Verse 1 Learned to drive in a wreck that shouldn’t pass
Muffler held by wire and looking like trash. Dad gripping the dash
his voice getting high
With every stalled engine and every heavy sigh. Said I’d kill us both if I drove that way
Predicting the crash on a rainy day. Heart beating loud
drowning out the sound
Every wrong turn driving me into the ground.
Verse 2 Years later I push the pedal to the floor
No one sitting in the passenger seat anymore. Same old engine
different scars on the skin
Holding the wheel where the shakes begin. Marks on the plastic from the biting down
Instead of driving the car right out of town. Every bad shift
every fight I left behind, Chewed in the vinyl
stuck in the mind.
Pre-Chorus “Never be enough” is the rot in the frame
Hearing the voice calling out the name. But here I am
dodging every light
Refusing to quit in the middle of the night.
Chorus Teeth marks on the wheel, the proof I stayed
On the asphalt line that the city made. Bite patterns pressed in the cheap gray foam
When I wanted to burn down the sky and home. I am not calm
I am not clean
Just driving a tank that is running lean. If you ride along
the music is high
Past in the trunk while we drive on by.
Verse 3 Still hear the voice when I merge too slow
Seeing the face in the mirror glow. But a new voice yells over the top of the noise
Laughing at the fear and the broken toys. Outlived the doubt and the predictions made
Flattened the list in the mess of the trade. Saw the guardrail
kept it in the lane
Spiting the crash and the heavy pain.
Pre-Chorus Pulling over at the stop in the dark
Staring at the plastic and the biting mark. Feeling stupid for the rage inside
Thanking the beast that decided to hide.
Chorus Teeth marks on the wheel, the proof I stayed
On the asphalt line that the city made. Bite patterns pressed in the cheap gray foam
When I wanted to burn down the sky and home. I am not calm
I am not clean
Just driving a tank that is running lean. If you ride along
the music is high
Past in the trunk while we drive on by.
Bridge One day the engine will cough and die
Giving up the ghost to the open sky. I’ll take the wheel and hang it on the wall
A trophy from the fight and the heavy stall. Not a win
just a scar on the shelf
Proof I didn’t crash it into myself. Every groove is a night I stayed
Survival is the only trick I played.
Outro Roll the window down, let the cold air in
Highway humming underneath the skin. Smiling at the dark
fingers light on the ring
Knowing I survived every single thing.