American Football

Intro

Kickoff, lights down low, uh-huh

(come on) (yeah)

Verse

We were fifteen with cleats in the mud,

Jerseys heavy and hands that never shook.

Fridays smelled like chalk and cold breath,

Playbooks folded under a crooked hook.

Your grin split the night like a touchdown light,

(keep on) (keep on)

We ran circles through boys who learned to shout,

Our pockets full of summer and the ache to get out.

Pre-chorus

And every snap felt like a promise, like a slight,

Like the clock was holding its breath for us to fight.

(oh-oh) (oh-oh)

Chorus

American football, we were fire in the stands,

Hands sticky with soda, blood on our hands.

American football, yeah we learned how to fall,

And we learned how to get back up, get back up, get back up.

(na-na) (na-na)

Verse

Coach called our names like a roll of old film,

Said ‘son, pick a play and don’t you look back.’

We traded secrets with helmets tipped low,

Kisses on the bleachers, whispers on the track.

You timed your breath to the metronome of cleats,

(come on) (come on)

I kept score with a pocket full of regrets,

Counting yards like prayers that the next call forgets.

Pre-chorus

By halftime my gloves were soaked with what we were worth,

And you drew cartoons of futures on the dust of the earth.

(oh-oh) (oh-oh)

Chorus

American football, under halogen moons,

We wrote our names on the scoreboard, crooked and doomed.

American football, with a prayer and a bruise,

We learned how to get back up, get back up, get back up.

(na-na) (na-na)

Bridge

This field holds ghosts in the chains and the posts,

Leaves stuck to seams of the jackets we boast.

We keep trading colors — blue, white, and rust —

And our promises curl in the locker room dust.

(heyi ya, heyi ya)

Verse

Years later I drive past that rusting high fence,

The scoreboard is dead but I hear the crowd dense.

Your laugh on the radio, a muffled refrain,

I press my palm to the glass of the past like rain.

Pre-chorus

There’s a play we didn’t run that still glows like a sin,

But I keep my heart on the line and I’m ready to begin.

(oh-oh) (oh-oh)

Chorus

American football, with our names on the line,

We were clumsy and brave and terrified of time.

American football, where the quiet meets the roar,

We learned how to get back up, get back up, get back up.

(na-na) (na-na)

Outro

Kickoff, lights down low, uh-huh

(come on) (yeah)