Jim White

Static On The Radio

Jim White


3 A.M. I'm awakened
By a sweet summer rain
Distant howling of a passing
Southbound coal train
Was I dreaming or was there someone
Just lying here beside me in this bed?
Am I hearing things? Or in the next room
Did a long forgotten music box just start playing?

And I know
(It's a sin putting words in the mouths of the dead)
And I know
(It's a crime to weave your wishes into what they said)
And I know
(Only fools venture where them spirits tread)
'Cause I know
(Every word, every sound bouncing 'round my head)

Is just static on the radio
(Everything I think I know is just static on the radio)

Midnight rendezvous with a pretty girl
Wearing a torn and tear-stained gown
Like a ghost ship she appeared from nowhere
On a lonely highway and flagged me down
I gave her a lift downtown to the greyhound station
And in the flicker of the neon lights
She kissed me goodbye, and in the mirror of her eyes
I saw my own reflection

And I know
(The blind will sometimes lead the blind)
And I know
(Through shadow lands and troubled times)
And I know
(Forsaking love, we seek the signs)
And I know
(Of truths forever hid behind)

The static on the radio
(Everything I think I know is just static on the radio)

Now there's a church house about a stone's throw down
From this place where I been staying
It's Sunday morning, and I'm sittin' in my truck
Listening to my neighbor sing
Ten years ago I might have joined in
But don't time change those inclined
To think less of what is written
Than what's wrote between the lines?

'Cause I know
(Dreams are for those who are asleep in bed)
And I know
(It's a sin putting words in the mouths of the dead)
'Cause I know
(For all my ruminations I can't change a thing)
Still I hope
(There's others out there that are listening)

To the static on the radio
(Everything I think I know is just static on the radio)

Static on the radio
(Ain't praying for miracles, I'm just down on my knees)
Static on the radio
(Listening for the song behind everything I think I know)

(Everything I think I know is just static on the radio
Everything I think I know is just static on the radio)