the roads the only home I've ever known 5.0 (Remix)

[Am — Melancholic → Uplifting] [Intro — Spoken] The only home I’ve ever known has been the road. Before I knew what leaving meant, I knew what leaving felt like. Back glass of a Monte Carlo, three years old, watching the sky, one life disappearing behind me, another coming through the windshield. Maybe the road didn’t find me. Maybe I was born into the rhythm. [Intro — Sung] The road’s got rhythm, I hear it underneath the tires, a lonely little heartbeat running underneath my life. The road’s got rhythm, even when I don’t know where it goes. The only home I’ve ever known has been the road. [Verse 1 — Sung] Metallic blue with a top painted white, Daddy at the wheel driving into the night. Little boy stretched where the back glass lay, too young to know what we left that day. Faces get smaller when the distance grows, some things a child just somehow knows. Didn’t have words for goodbye back then, just watched that highway begin again. New town waiting somewhere ahead, old life fading behind instead. Three years old with nowhere to go— Me and my Monte Carlo, learning the road. [Pre-Chorus] Every white line came and went. Every mile meant something then. I didn’t know what I would become. I only knew we were moving on. [Chorus] The only home I’ve ever known has been the road. It carried every dream and every heavy load. So many places, so many faces, but the story stayed the same. I’m not playing a game, not looking for fame, just trying to save me and my father’s name. A little dignity, a little self-respect, put you back on the right track. The only home I’ve ever known has been the road. [Verse 2 — Rap] I learned early how a rearview works, yesterday shrinks but it still can hurt. Somebody leaves, remains in your mind, you keep moving forward while looking behind. Different addresses, different doors, different ceilings, different floors. Different people saying, “Stay awhile,” then another hundred miles on the dial. Learned rhythm from the seams in the street, tires and asphalt making the beat. Turn signal clicking like a metronome, funny how a moving car felt like home. Carried my father, carried his name, carried his fire, carried his pain. Carried the questions I couldn’t let go, packed every one of ’em up for the road. Somewhere between who I was and became, Ricky turned Rick, Richard carried the name. Three different voices, one soul underneath, the road kept time while I searched for me. [Chorus] The only home I’ve ever known has been the road. It carried every dream and every heavy load. So many places, so many faces, but the story stayed the same. I’m not playing a game, not looking for fame, just trying to save me and my father’s name. A little dignity, a little self-respect, put you back on the right track. [Verse 3 — Sung] I’ve watched sunrise through a windshield, watched another city disappear. Had nights when I didn’t know where I’d be when morning got here. But the road never asked me what I owned, never asked me what I’d lost. It opened up another mile and whispered— Come on. So I drove. [Breakdown — Spoken/Rap] Road’s got rhythm. Tires on pavement. Heart in my chest. One says, “Keep moving.” One says, “Don’t quit yet.” Rain on the roof. Memory in the mirror. Miles are the proof. Every wrong turn still brought me somewhere. Every dead end made me turn around. Every time life put me on my back, somehow I got up. Somehow I found another road. [Bridge] Maybe home was never four walls. Maybe home was learning I could survive without them. Maybe home wasn’t where I started. Maybe home is what I carried. My father’s name. My mother’s absence. The little boy in the back glass. The man behind the wheel now. Every place. Every face. Every scar. Every song. Every mile saying— You’re still here. [Build — Sung] I’m still here. Still moving. Still believing there’s a reason I came this far. I’m still here. Still choosing to follow that horizon under these stars. [Final Chorus] The only home I’ve ever known has been the road, but now I know every mile was taking me somewhere. So many places, so many faces, but the story doesn’t have to stay the same. I’m not playing a game, I’m not looking for fame, I found something stronger than somebody knowing my name. I found dignity. I found self-respect. Found the strength to put my life back on track. The only home I’ve ever known has been the road— but every road I ever took was leading me back home. [Outro] Road’s got rhythm, and I finally hear the song. Road’s got rhythm— maybe I wasn’t lost all along. That little boy in the Monte Carlo couldn’t know what I know now: sometimes you lose the map before you figure your way out. The road raised me. The road changed me. After all these miles, all these places and faces, I finally understand. The road may be the only home I’ve ever known... but home is something I carry with me now. The road’s got rhythm... and I’m still rolling home.