Track 8 of the album Back Door Open · 2022
The Photograph Stayed in the Glovebox
“Same glovebox, same photograph, a different year. I couldn't stop writing about it, so I gave it its own song.”
rock ballad · rock ballad · keepsake song · 5:18
Lyrics
Found it in the glovebox, under maps Corners soft as cloth A girl in a yellow summer dress Squinting at the sun, laughing off I don't remember who took it Or what the joke could be But she's looking at the camera Like she's looking straight at me Thirty years of highway And it never left the door Hold the photograph up to the light Everything we were is still in sight Faded colours, a crease down the side But the love in her smile never died Old road, take me back or take me on I'm not who I was, but I'm not gone Hold the photograph up to the light And I'll drive a little kinder tonight I used to think the past was a ditch You drive by and don't look down Now I think it's a lantern You carry through the town There's a stranger in the background Holding up a dripping cone Somebody's whole forgotten day Caught and carried home Thirty years of highway And it never left the door Hold the photograph up to the light Everything we were is still in sight Faded colours, a crease down the side But the love in her smile never died Old road, take me back or take me on I'm not who I was, but I'm not gone Hold the photograph up to the light And I'll drive a little kinder tonight I can't call back the summer I can't fix what I said But I can tuck her in my visor And keep the road ahead Some things you don't throw away Some things you don't let go You just learn to hold them gently And let the good ones show Hold the photograph up to the light Everything we were is still in sight Faded colours, a crease down the side But the love in her smile never died Old road, take me back or take me on I'm not who I was, but I'm not gone Hold the photograph up to the light And I'll drive a little kinder tonight Yellow summer dress, yellow summer sun Drive a little kinder, everyone