I Played Drums On This

In the winter when I was eight
I rode from state to state
Listening to The Summer of '69
My brother he sang it, my daddy he drove
Through the hills of long-forgotten families
And broken down old homes

My brother played me cool music
So I threw out my old tapes
My childhood stashed up deep and attached
To my big brother's place
Years ago he was my hero and like
That gets us to the night we went
We caught bugs, bright light stars, in tight-lidded jars
But I grew out of it

The brighter they are, the faster they burn
Oh, big brother you never did learn
You strangled all your options
You sucked out all their breath
Ken, you're high as a kite and you're as low as they get

You came to the west coast
On a Sunday
Robbed dear daddy blind
Tried to board a train back home
Sold your pass for cheap white lines
Daddy came and picked you up
The car was quiet then
His head hung like a white flag
On Monday you did it all again

The brighter they are, the faster they burn
Oh, big brother you never did learn
You strangled all your options
You sucked out all their breath
Ken, you're high as a kite and you're as low as they get

And in between the fighting
The pressure of yourself
The promise to get better stacked up on a dusty shelf
You miss the point completely
Self fulfill your sabotage
Father taught you how to fish
Instead you ate the fish he caught

The brighter they are, the faster they burn
Oh, big brother you never did learn
You strangled all your options
You sucked out all their breath
Yeah, you're high as a kite

The brighter you are, the faster you burn
Big brother you never did learn
You strangled all your loved ones
You sucked out all our breath
Ken, you're high as a kite and you're as low as they get