Track 9 of the album Mile Marker Zero · 2016
Thirty-Five Years and a Free Calendar
“The alarm rang at a quarter to five out of habit, and a free calendar was the only thing I got for thirty-five years. I sing it with a smile because the alternative is worse.”
slow rock · retirement rock · heartland rock · 4:12
Lyrics
Alarm clock rang at a quarter to five Out of habit, nothing more I lay there listening to the quiet Like a truck at the station door Thirty-five years of the same gray gate Same stale coffee, same old keys Now there's a whole wide open morning And nobody telling me please Well, I've got nowhere to be And all day to get there Got a full tank and a free calendar And a sky that's got no fence Let the clock run slow Let the road run wide I punched my last card on Friday Now I'm riding on the sunny side The boys all signed a big old card Said don't you be a stranger I said I'll be out on the highway Where the lonesome, easy danger Is a pie shop in a small town And a name I never knew My wife packed up the thermos Said I'm coming too Well, I've got nowhere to be And all day to get there Got a full tank and a free calendar And a sky that's got no fence Let the clock run slow Let the road run wide I punched my last card on Friday Now I'm riding on the sunny side They say a man is what he does I say a man is what he's done And what he does with Monday morning When the whistle's been outrun So here's to the lunch pail on the shelf And the boots beside the door Here's to every Sunday night I won't have to dread no more Come on, darling, roll the window down Let the cool wind comb your hair We've got thirty-five years of daylight Left to spend out there Oh, I've got nowhere to be And all day to get there Got a full tank and a free calendar And a sky that's got no fence Let the clock run slow Let the road run wide I punched my last card on Friday Now I'm riding on the sunny side Riding on the sunny side Yeah, the sunny side