The Last Time

Verse

I still taste that summer on a grape Popsicle stick

Runnin’ barefoot through the tall grass, didn’t cost a nickel to feel rich

Fireflies were streetlights, screen door never locked

We were kings and queens of nothin’, never watched the clock

Pre-chorus

Then one day the music stopped, nobody told me why

I kept hummin’ that old song long after it died

Chorus

There was a last time I felt weightless, a last time the world was kind

A last laugh that rang forever, a last look that eased my mind

I’ve been chasin’ ghosts down backroads, tryin’ to make ’em real again

But the last time was the last time, and the last time’s gone, my friend

Verse

Folks I love got older, some moved on, some just moved away

The drive-in closed for good, they paved over where we played

I stand in the same river, but it ain’t the same water no more

Every face I used to know don’t fit these faces at the door

Pre-chorus

Then one day the music stopped, nobody told me why

I kept hummin’ that old song long after it died

Chorus

Yeah, there was a last time I felt weightless, a last time the world was kind

A last kiss that tasted like forever, burnin’ in the back of my mind

I can’t rebuild what the years broke, Lord knows I’ve tried

The last time was the last time, and the last time waved goodbye

Bridge

So I quit fightin’ the rear-view, let the dust settle where it may

Started lookin’ for brand-new wonders in the light of brand-new days

Some old friends won’t come with me, they’re still livin’ in ’99

But the kids laughin’ on the front porch don’t know they’re savin’ my life

Chorus

There’s a first time comin’ tomorrow, a first spark I ain’t felt yet

A first song that heals the hollow where the old ones still sit

I’ll carry what the past taught me, but I won’t live chained to then

’Cause the last time was the last time…

Thank God the next time ain’t the end

Chorus

Yeah, thank God the next time ain’t the end.