The County Line Creed

[Verse 1]
The Piggly Wiggly sign hums a low G in the rain.
Third spot from the cart return still has that August oil stain.
Every crack in this asphalt is a suture that I know,
a faded map of every place I ain't ever gonna go.

[Chorus]
This ain't a road to nowhere, it's the creed beneath my skin.
Every dead end's a chapter, every county line's a sin.

[Verse 2]
The chain-link by the middle school, you scraped it with a key.
September, twenty-ought-nine, the air so thick you couldn't breathe.
You said, "I swear on my own blood, we're tearin' out this seam."
Guess a promise is a cheap thread in a worn-out, faded dream.

[Chorus]
This ain't a road to nowhere, it's the creed beneath my skin.
Every dead end's a chapter, every county line's a sin.

[Bridge]
Now Jesse traces these same streets on the back of his math quiz.
He don't know the lines he's drawing are the only life there is.

[Chorus]
This ain't a road to nowhere, it's the creed beneath my skin.
Every dead end's a chapter, every county line's a sin.

(3-5 seconds of silence)

[Outro]
The Piggly Wiggly sign just keeps on hummin' that low G.