Track 8 of the album Smooth Road, Long Shadow · 2019
Downhill with the Brakes Singing
“Top of the pass, pines and thunderheads, brakes singing the whole way down. We screamed this one into the wind.”
folk rock · mountain anthem · driving folk rock · 3:50
Lyrics
Top of the pass and the whole world's laid out wide Pine trees and thunder clouds on either side The van's got a rattle and the brakes sing high We're coasting down the mountain, with the whole sky Drummer's got his feet up on the dash Bass player's hollering, we're making a dash Harmonica howling out the window glass Nobody's counting miles that have already passed Downhill with the brakes singing, hands up in the air Downhill with the brakes singing, we don't have a care Let the gravity carry us, let the engine rest Downhill with the brakes singing, we're the loud and the blessed Hairpin turns like a roller coaster ride We lean into the curve with our hearts open wide A hawk is circling slow over the cliff We're laughing like the road is a happy kind of myth Downhill with the brakes singing, hands up in the air Downhill with the brakes singing, we don't have a care Let the gravity carry us, let the engine rest Downhill with the brakes singing, we're the loud and the blessed Every climb we ever made Every gear we ground Paid us back in this parade Of the sunset rolling down Downhill with the brakes singing, hands up in the air Downhill with the brakes singing, we don't have a care Let the gravity carry us, let the engine rest Downhill with the brakes singing, we're the loud and the blessed We're the loud and the blessed Hey, we're the loud and the blessed