The Leaving Kind

[Verse 1]
The screen on the kitchen window's torn at the bottom right
Lets the smell of jasmine and mosquitoes in tonight
You're tracing patterns in the sweat on your High Life can
Smiling like a man who thinks he's got a long-term plan

[Chorus]
But my mother's people never looked back from a closing door
And my father's people showed me what a good-bye is for
So don't you go get comfortable, honey, on my floor
'Cause this family's got a habit of just walking out the door

[Verse 2]
I've got her Hagi-yaki bowls, all cracked and seamed with gold
She says "what's broken's precious," a story to be told
And I believe her when she's pouring the oolong tea
But the sound of something shattering still sounds like free to me

[Chorus]
'Cause my mother's people never looked back from a closing door
And my father's people showed me what a good-bye is for
So don't you go get comfortable, honey, on my floor
'Cause this family's got a habit of just walking out the door

[Bridge]
I see the line of them behind me, a hundred-year-long train
Each one with a packed bag standing in the Alabama rain
(SOUND: A single, fuzzed-out, distorted power chord hangs in the air, then cuts to silence)
It ain't a curse, it's just the way this fabric's worn

[Chorus]
'Cause my mother's people never looked back from a closing door
(Countermelody: Don't know how to stay, don't know how to stay)
And my father's people showed me what a good-bye is for
(Countermelody: Don't wanna be this way, don't wanna be this way)
So don't you go get comfortable, honey, on my floor
(Countermelody: Make me stay, please make me stay)
'Cause this family's got a habit of just walking out the door

[Outro]
Yeah, this family's got a habit...
Now, you gonna finish that beer or not?