Francis Larson

Lyrics

I keep a packet of smokes in the back of my desk drawer.
Once you asked “what the hell are these for?” Tonight is what they are there for.
When nostalgia drives my guiltless heart to Gates Pass
To that veranda to search the graffiti it has amassed
for where we wrote our initials and swore a love steel cast.
Yeah, we swore our love was as strong as steel cast.
You’re as stubborn as saguaros, guarded like your father
It’s a wonder we believed we could last.
Through that dry heat and summer with ghosts and your mother
filling so much more than water in your glass
It was so πmuch more than water in your glass.

Oh our love turned dour
as you sipped whiskey sours
I told you I’d try—I would stay
You raised up that gun
But I still didn’t run
You’re the one that drifted away
You’re the one that drifted away

Memories of me and the life we shared coming back
You know I give it my all, there was nothing for you to lack
But your diet of wine and booze, it threw you off track
So I get it, that morning when you left so fast
I kept hanging on that morning when you left so fast.
But now don’t you dare spread a lie that I didn’t fight ‘til the end
when you’re alone in a bar with excuses as your only friends.
I can’t comfort you now but oh, Lord, I tried back then
Don’t you dare even cry I promise I will not give in.
Drink up your rye and tell yourself comfort’s within.
Drink up your rye and tell yourself comfort’s within.

Then with a quickness you’ll fill the bed I slept in
Putting a man by your side, declaring “I win”
I’d rather sleep easy after saying amen
Then stay awake like you counting up your sins
Cause if you didn’t know, you’re covered head to toe with them.

Oh our love turned dour
as you sipped whiskey sours
I told you I’d try—I would stay
You raised up that gun
But I still didn’t run
You’re the one that drifted away
You’re the one that’s drifting away

I found love, you drifted away
I found love after you drifted away
I found a love that keeps me warm,
so don’t you dare come back home.
Cause you walked away.

Drink up your rye and tell yourself comfort’s within.
My conscious is clear, don’t even begin.
One day you’ll be counting your mistakes with chagrin
I know you’ll know walking away was one of them
Walking away from me was the greatest of them.
No it wasn’t my fault, it was your mistake in the end
You walked away, so I ain’t one of them.
Yeah, it was you. I ain’t one of them.