Ellis Paul

It was a summer night
I took off in my father's car
I rolled the windows right on down
I cranked up the radio
And chased the meteors
Down a dirt road out of town

Tonight
There's a party out in Walker's field
Tonight
By the firelight our dreams revealed
Tonight
Turn your back upon 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 held a can of blue spray paint
Jimmy was no saint
But he knew how to 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 ten years have passed
The cabbie taps the glass
We're in front of
My high school's 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, so the town could see
Tonight

I painted steel
with cobalt blue
Spelling out
our graduation year
Above the highway
That took me out of here
And I finally think
I really know
Just what it means
To be eighteen
To be eighteen

Ellis Paul

Ellis Paul Publishing (SESAC)