Page 106

I hear your voice and I’m eight

Your things are not here anymore

You’re touring the world and sometimes you call

But never pick up when I do

My mum doesn’t cry, now she’s just cold,

so I only cry in my room

But now and again I see you sing in the rain

And Earl still has you up on his wall

CHORUS

Oh, pretty songbird

The country loves you so

Oh, pretty songbird

When are you coming home?

VERSE

I hear your voice and I’m twenty-three

On tour in a place I don’t know

I watch that recording, and I see myself,

In every note, in every move

The way you laugh around minute four is the same way that I laugh too

Same hair and same eyes, same parlor trick smile,

Despite my new scorpion tattoo

CHORUS

Oh, pretty songbird

The country loves you so

Oh, pretty songbird

I don’t think you’re ever coming home

OUTRO

Made me in your image, then forgot you made me

God, I wish I could forget you too

And the question still haunts me, do I sing like myself