Track 1 of the album Diesel Hymns · 2008
Diesel and Daylight
“This is the first thing I ever wrote down on a receipt pad, two in the morning with the coffee gone cold. It felt right to open the record where the road started for me.”
slow rock · heartland rock · road song · 3:45
Lyrics
Two a.m. on the interstate Coffee gone cold in the cup Truck stop sign in the rear-view glass Says I should be giving up But the radio's humming low And the white lines keep me true I've been running on diesel and a prayer Since the town I never knew Gray along the edge of the sky Just a thread, but it's there Hold on, hold on, the dark don't last Diesel and daylight, coming on fast Every mile marker's a promise I make To still be rolling when the east wakes Hold on, hold on, the dark don't last Diesel and daylight, coming on fast There's a waitress in Amarillo Who remembers how I take it Black and slow and no questions asked She never tries to fake it Said everybody out here's chasing Something they can't name I said, ma'am, I'm just chasing morning Same road, different shame Gray along the edge of the sky Just a thread, but it's there Hold on, hold on, the dark don't last Diesel and daylight, coming on fast Every mile marker's a promise I make To still be rolling when the east wakes Hold on, hold on, the dark don't last Diesel and daylight, coming on fast Oh, I've lost some years on this blacktop Left some names in the dust But a man can still turn his headlights Toward something he can trust Now the mesa's turning copper And the dashboard's going gold My hands are steady on the wheel For the first time in a long, long old Road behind me, road ahead Nothing left to prove Just a tired man and a humming engine And the sun coming up to move Hold on, hold on, the dark don't last Diesel and daylight, coming on fast Every mile marker's a promise I make To still be rolling when the east wakes Hold on, hold on, the dark don't last Diesel and daylight, coming on fast Diesel and daylight Easy now, easy now Diesel and daylight