Nobody Tells You When You’re Young

The clouds hung over Georgia
Like a widowed brand new bride
The air was cursed with spring in bloom
So you just stayed inside
When you ran here from New Jersey
You were no more than a child
Your father was a criminal
He stole your mother's smile
The things nobody tells you when you're young

That the day's can leave you wanting
And that the past can be a haunted house of mirrors
Nobody tells you when you're young
That the cops cannot be trusted
That some hearts like cars just rust out in the rain for years
Nobody tells you when you're young

And Athens was a ghost town
When they rang your wedding bells
And you moved into that little house
Outside of Wintersville
And those first years, they were perfect
Yeah, you had a little girl
Everything they never gave to you
You swore you'd give to her
The things nobody tells you when you're young
That love is complicated
And that some days you'll think
You've made it just to lose

Nobody tells you when you're young
That time is not a straight track
It's a forest with no map
You're walking with no shoes
Nobody tells you when you're young
Now you're a little older
And you feigned captivity
No, they never boxed you in
But it's still hard to believe
The things nobody tells you when you're young
How some friends will become strangers
And that there is no greater
Danger than to live in fear
Nobody tells you when you're young

'Cause a rebel heart won't listen
But to grow you must go missing
Just don't disappear
The wisdom's in the living
Not the years
Nobody tells you when you're young