Dub It Twice for Luck

Lyrics

My brother had two tape decks in his room
And a stack of cassettes with the labels worn thin
He'd hold the record button with his thumb
And wait for the song, and let it begin
Then he'd copy it twice, just to be sure
For every friend who was knocking on his door

Dub it twice for luck, he'd say
One for you and one for the road
Dub it twice for luck, my friend
And share the way it makes you glow
A song's not gone if you pass it on
Dub it twice for luck

He wrote the titles in his slanted hand
With a ballpoint pen that never quite agreed
There were crackles at the start of every side
And a little hiss that was all we'd need
We played them in the car with the windows down
Singing wrong words all the way through town

Dub it twice for luck, he'd say
One for you and one for the road
Dub it twice for luck, my friend
And share the way it makes you glow
A song's not gone if you pass it on
Dub it twice for luck

Now the decks are gone and the shelves are bare
But I can hear him counting in
One more for the lucky ones
One more for the ones who've been
Somewhere I can't follow, somewhere I can't see
Still passing on his melody

I made a tape for my daughter last week
Eleven songs and a silly goodbye
She laughed at the hiss and the clunky old click
And hummed the third song as the day went by
I wrote the titles in my own slanted hand
And I made her two, so she'd understand

Dub it twice for luck, I said
One for you and one for the road
Dub it twice for luck, my dear
And share the way it makes you glow
A song's not gone if you pass it on
Dub it twice for luck

Dub it twice
For luck