Across the Wire and into the Night

Well, she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin'
That there was a little more to life somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to

I remember that knock on the window like it was yesterday. The fear of the unknown, the force at which I attempted to swallow air and smile in your presence. The way I thought the world spun around you... and the day the orbits stopped. Lights came crashing down and then... it was nothing but darkness.

And if she had to die tryin'
She had one little promise she was gonna keep

I remember lying awake at night, hearing the click of the tape recorder as it came to a stop; the voices retired but I could not. I remember listening to you breathe in and out, sucking the life out of my lungs and leaving me to suffocate in your surroundings.

Well it was kind of cold that night,
She stood alone on her balcony
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by,
Out on 441 like waves crashin' on the beach

I remember the last time Petty came through town. The way you argued about sell-outs in the music industry; about satellite radio and the ways of old. But most of all, I remember the old records. The ones that predated our parents. The clicks and pops in the still of the night when war bonds went with floor wax and killing was still patriotic.

And for one desperate moment
There he crept back in her memory

I remember the secrets you told me. I remember the names.
In the end, 1936 was just another year for you and Rita Hayworth was just another alter ego for everything I failed to be. But God Almighty... to think I could ever forget?! You'd think the moon would sooner forget to rise above your bed at night.

God it's so painful when something that's so close
Is still so far out of reach

And still, 57 years later I'm the one with polished floors, steamed curls and a great big world full of popsicle stick dreams. I was the one who had to turn the lights out; I had to lock the doors. I was the only one brave enough to say goodbye but I never looked back when I walked away. Not until tonight. All these years, all these lifetimes, did you really think I'd forget your name? I breathed in the world and gave you my life. And You gave me static across a wire...