Eighteen - Ellis Paul

It was a summer night

I took off in my old man’s car

I rolled the windows right on down

I cranked up the radio

And chased the meteors

On a dirt road out of town

Tonight

There’s a bonfire in Walker’s field

Tonight

In the firelight our dreams revealed

Tonight

You can chase away your high school years

Shadows dancing wildly at the scene

But I never knew right then

Just what it means

To be eighteen

To be eighteen

The voice of Jimmy Aberdeen

Still washes over me

He had a laugh like a thunder cloud

He was holding blue spray paint

Jimmy was no saint

But he could always draw a crowd

That night

We climbed the water tower in Walker’s field

That night

Above the lights of town our fates were sealed

That night

Jimmy fell down through the darkness

An ambulance brought silence to the scene

And carried off the life

And broken dreams

Of Jimmy Aberdeen

Now the years have passed

The cabbie taps the glass

We’re outside

My reunion hall

He leaves me to the night

I count the satellites

I see the tower

Looming tall…

Tonight

I’m taking on my memory

Tonight

I climbed the water tower for all to see

Tonight

I painted steel

With cobalt blue

Spelling out

My graduation year

Above the highway

That took me out of here

And I finally think

I really know

What it means

To be eighteen

Eighteen

Eighteen