Track Insight / Lyrics
At 2 AM, the coffee's cold
The night clerk sweeps the empty floor
A dead key rattles like a ghost
Then won't turn half a locked-up door
I flip my secrets with the spatula
A busted ring beside the sugar
The jukebox coughs and calls the other
A penny bends beneath my thumb
These keys don't open any door
They rattle through the trays and drawers
I carried hope across this floor
Now I leave the crumbs by yours
I pour the regulars their refills
A tipped cup leaves a brown stain
The truck-stop kid laughs at my riddles
Then asks if I can mend his chain
These keys don't open any door
They rattle through the trays and drawers
I set a smile beside the flour
Then laugh when none of them are yours
I save a smile beneath the griddle
The morning sun cracks gray and gold
A lonely cup begins to sizzle
While two cold eggs refuse to hold
These keys don't open any door
They rattle through the silver jars
I polish every scar I bore
And name them after parking scars
I lock the pantry, count the pickles
The back door leaks a silver thread
My old Buick coughs around the sickles
And spits a key into the shed
These keys don't open any door
They tangle in the apron's strings
I turn them where the sunlight pours
And hear the old wall softly ring
The lights go out beneath the chrome
A red door glows inside the dark
One spark refuses to go dark
I strike another match, it sparks
At closing time, the coffee thickens
A quiet man leaves bread for two
My master key is circling quicker
It never finds a lock to undo
These keys don't open any door
They sing beneath the silver sink
I turn my hand beneath the floor
And wake a little light within
At dawn, the coffee's warm again
The empty racks sit perfectly still
No dead lock takes my hand, and then
I turn the grill, tomorrow's mine
