Track Insight / Lyrics
You checked in with a seabag and a stare
The clerk just pointed to the cactus chair
You tipped your hat and paid him for the night
The vacancy sign flickered out of spite
The vermilion sky is bleeding on the plain
You're a thousand miles of highway from the rain
And the radio is scratching out a name
Vermilion sky, you're never going home again
You told the waitress that you sailed the fleet
She wiped the counter with a slow retreat
You said the ocean taught you how to pray
She said the desert teaches you to stay
The vermilion sky is bleeding on the plain
You're a thousand miles of highway from the rain
And the radio is scratching out a name
Vermilion sky, you're never going home again
The ice machine is coughing in the hall
Your shadow's just a smudge against the wall
You count the cars that never stop for you
A trucker honks and hauls it out of view
The vermilion sky is bleeding on the plain
You're a thousand miles of highway from the rain
And the radio is scratching out a name
Vermilion sky, you're never going home again
You left your compass open on the bed
The needle spinning circles in your head
A deckhand's wage won't buy a burial plot
You spent it all on whiskey, cheap and hot
The neon's buzzing like a trapped-out fly
You're too damn sober now to even cry
The graveyard shift is punching in its card
The highway hums a hymn for the scarred
You'll catch a ride before the morning breaks
A southbound rig that never taps the brakes
You'll tell yourself you're leaving for the coast
But Santa Fe's the one you'll miss the most
The vermilion sky is bleeding on the plain
You're a thousand miles of highway from the rain
And the radio is scratching out a name
Vermilion sky, you're never going home again
Meter's running, chalk it on the dash
Vermilion sky, you're never going home again
