Movin' On

Lyrics

In the quiet of an autumn afternoon, park bench dreaming, wintry days in bloom
And I know I should be moving on, but I really hate to go
This is the closest thing to a home that I’ve ever known, but it feels like snow

Miles and days go by and it’s a cold December dawn
Now I’m outside Kansas City breathing clouds and rubbing palms
My money’s gone, and my clothes congealed
My thumb can’t seem to get me wheels
I’m hungry, I’m cold and I’m lonely, then she comes along
And with three words we’re gone, “Need a ride?”
Just movin’ on

I say, “I’m nowhere bound”
She’s going for L.A.
I guess picking up a rider was another way to stake her claim
She says, “I’m going to be a star, boy
Make the world cry, if I choose.”
But the makeup that hid her age couldn’t hide her youth, or protect the things she had to lose

Anyway, we roll on down the highway headed west
Stars and cars and late-night bars, the beacons for our quest
The hours fly by, her wit regales and our conversation soars
We’re long-lost friends who have never met before
She’s so full of life and life’s allure, and so much more

We hit Tucson Friday morning after five
As the sunlight splits the dark and the desert vista comes alive
I say, “I can feel this city calling me like a Mother to her child.”
Then I laugh, and I wait for her wit to wail on my lineage and loathsome life
But she only starts to cry

She tells me, “I’ve lived in Kansas since the day that I was born
I was suffocating, bored and I had to find out there was more
So, I ran away from the ones I love for a dream I can’t be certain of
And I’m ashamed to admit that until this trip, I never realized how I’d miss them so
But I’ve got to find what I came looking for, cause there ain’t no cure
Oh, don’t hate me, there ain’t no cure”

But I couldn’t hate her even if I tried cause she re-awoke what I’d lost inside, so long, long ago
Then she smiles and says “Come away with me
We’ll make the whole world cry
We’ll set the whole word free
And I want you to go”
But that’s her dream not mine

Moving on - it’s the only life I’ve ever known
Moving on - now I know I need a place to call my own
I’ve been feeling no feelings for so, so long

You know it’s funny how the fates our fortunes cast
She only dreams about her future, I only mull about my past
And I didn’t have no direction on
I came along here for the ride
Tucson was just another place away from the places I can’t hide
But when she opened up my heart, it fell inside

So, when the Tucson sunset fills the western sky
In the desert silhouette, against the canvass of twilight
I watch her tail lights gleam and fade to grey
And my heart screams, “Girl, don’t go away”
Then I hear my voice yell, “Baby, make the whole world cry”
And even though I know I’m going to miss her, I hear it say, “Goodbye”
Mmm mmm mmm “Goodbye”

Lyric & Music: Kevin Reardon; Copyright 2022