lyrics
18 and the Open Road
Verse 1
Eighteen.
Eighteen hits like a wrench in a steel hand,
like the first cool spark, that electric bite of ignition,
a key slipped into life’s ignition slot.
I’m holding the wheel of tomorrow,
license wrapped in birthday cash, still crisp and new.
They’re saying, you’re grown now, you’ve earned this.
It’s trust pressed into my palm like fuel, like freedom,
a simple slip of paper that says, Drive.
My girl laughs as I rev my dreams,
she sees the way I see pistons, gears, the heartbeat of metal,
every piece fitting together, like us,
running smooth if we keep the engine tuned.
Verse 2
When you’re a man of the hood and the wrench,
a car is more than machine. It’s pulse and grit,
an art form, something you make your own.
And I'm not reckless—nah, that’s not me.
I was taught to respect this, this fire under steel,
the weight of it all. Dad’s voice in the back of my mind,
drive smart, drive steady, don’t push it just 'cause you can.
So here I stand, eighteen, the smell of motor oil and metal in my hands,
my girl by my side, laughing, telling me I’m “so serious.”
But she gets it, she knows why I love it:
because when I drive, I’m not just some kid—
I’m free.
Verse 3
Eighteen, and I see it: the open road, wide