I wrote this song in one of those "in between moments." I was just finished with college and hadn't decided what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I was pretty nervous about that, especially since that's the one question that everybody seems to ask: "so, what are you going to do now?" It kept me up nights. So one afternoon I was waiting for a train with a friend of mine. The sun was setting through the still-leafy branches of late summer, the air was still, and I took out the guitar and started playing. Under the influence of those elements, I realized that one doesn't have to figure everything out once and for all. We progress by taking one step, then another. As I once heard it well said,
life is a workshop,
not an art gallery.
Everything’s younger by the side of the tracks
In the shade of a late afternoon
So take a deep breath and just lean yourself back,
You know the future comes way too soon
The sunlight stretches its fingers through the oak tree
And I stretch my fingers right back
I take one step toward you,
you come a million miles to me
And everything’s younger by the side of the tracks
And now I see
My friend is balancing on one leg,
suddenly twelve years old
and finding all those rusted iron treasures
that we collected years ago
He’s thinking about getting home to his family,
but he reminds me how they laid these tracks
all the way across the country
little by little and day by day
So don’t look back
And don’t say no
You’ve come a long way
But you’ve still got a ways to go
Sittin’ on the edge between the day and the night
In the shade of a late afternoon
It’s a curious property of the evening light
Whatever it touches looks brand new
And suddenly
I see the train lights in the distance,
and testing a theory I bend
to touch my head to the tracks so I can listen,
but I can’t hear the train yet
I’m thinking about all my superstitions,
and now I know everything takes time
Life may not turn out just like you imagine,
but as long as you’re moving you’re doing fine
So don’t look back….
The sun slips down and the light leans back
For one last touch of gold
But everything’s younger by the side of the tracks,
And I just turned twelve years old
So don’t look back
And don’t say no
‘Cause everything’s younger by the side of the tracks,
And I just turned twelve years old
Yeah, everything’s younger by the side of the tracks,
And I’ve got a long, long way to go
