Track Insight / Lyrics
Passenger left a book beside my fare
Dog-eared pages, coffee, dampened air
I found their final page beneath the seat
One unfinished road, and then I'm complete
Raining buckets on La Cienega Boulevard
Wipers knocking like a stranger at the door
Somebody's pencil circles where they stopped
Half a ticket stub and two Metro cards
I've driven every alley, crossed every town
Kept a penny and a promise rolling round
Now the booked-up ending slips into my hand
One blank margin wide enough to understand
On the last page, write my name
Leave the engine idling in the rain
Keep the worn book open on the dash
Turn the final line into a flashing sign
I was more than fare, and more than time
On the last page, let the daylight shine
Union Station swallowed evening with a hiss
Lost reflection in a hundred yellow taxis
A candy wrapper rolled beneath the passenger's shoe
Their unfinished ticket stamped at two
I've heard the city breathing through the steel
Counted every red light turning into real
Now the booked-up ending slips into my hand
One blank margin wide enough to understand
On the last page, write my name
Leave the engine idling in the rain
Keep the worn book open on the dash
Turn the final line into a flashing sign
I was more than fare, and more than time
On the last page, let the daylight shine
Airport road was hot beneath the hood
Radio prophets said the flood was coming soon
I kept a flask of coffee, rolled the window down
Watched the skyline slide beyond the county line
I've carried saints and gamblers, brides and dust
Held their secrets till the meters turned to rust
Now the booked-up ending slips into my hand
One blank margin wide enough to understand
Morning found me parked beneath an olive tree
Book held open like a map across my knee
The final page was dry beneath the sun
Blank enough for roads I never yet had run
I've turned a thousand corners, watched a thousand dawns
Counted backward from the night the engine warms
No road stays finished when it meets a start
No closed book owns the driver of this car
On the last page, write my name
Leave the engine idling in the rain
Keep the worn book open on the dash
Turn the final line into a flashing sign
I was more than fare, and more than time
On the last page, let the daylight shine
Passenger's book is closed, the road is wide
One clean turning at the city's edge outside
All those folded years have somewhere left to go
I was more than fare, and more than time
