Eighteen

It was a summer night
I took off in my old man’s car
I rolled the windows right on down
I cranked up the radio
And chased the meteors
On a dirt road out of town
Tonight
There’s a bonfire in Walker’s field
Tonight
In the firelight our dreams revealed
Tonight
You can chase away your high school years
Shadows dancing wildly at the scene
But I never knew right then
Just what it means
To be eighteen
To be eighteen
The voice of Jimmy Aberdeen
Still washes over me
He had a laugh like a thunder cloud
He was holding blue spray paint
Jimmy was no saint
But he could always draw a crowd
That night
We climbed the water tower in Walker’s field
That night
Above the lights of town our fates were sealed
That night
Jimmy fell down through the darkness
An ambulance brought silence to the scene
And carried off the life
And broken dreams
Of Jimmy Aberdeen
Now the years have passed
The cabbie taps the glass
We’re outside
My reunion hall
He leaves me to the night
I count the satellites
I see the tower
Looming tall…
Tonight
I’m taking on my memory
Tonight
I climbed the water tower for all to see
Tonight
I painted steel
With cobalt blue
Spelling out
My graduation year
Above the highway
That took me out of here
And I finally think
I really know
What it means
To be eighteen
Eighteen
Eighteen