He grew up in a one-horse town
Wasn't much to do since all them bars had closed down
He'd stare up to the stars sometimes
When no one was around
And he dreamed of getting out

So he bought himself a pick-up truck
that was covered up in rust
He found a buddy for the shotgun seat that was someone
He could trust
And they hit the gas, headed west out to the setting sun
When the dust had cleared, they were gone

Well leaving just came natural
That's the way it seemed to him
He'd been doing it so long, that's the way he'd always been
And you can find him in some hotel room
With the television on
He might be high and he'll probably ramble on
You can laugh beneath fluorescent lights
And drink until the dawn
But in the morning... in the morning
When you wake up he'll be gone

So he met a girl in a town along the way
She had beautiful brown eyes
And a place that he could stay
So he fell in love, and she fell in love in kind
It was so perfect that of course he lost his mind

He snuck of the kitchen one day before the dawn
She called out after him and ran across the lawn
And he said some things that he didn't mean
That he'd best be travelin' on
She shed some tears and he was gone

Well leaving just came natural
That's the way it seemed to him
He'd been doing it so long
That's the way he'd always been
And you can find him in some hotel room
With the television on
He might be high and he'll probably ramble on
You can laugh beneath fluorescent lights
And drink until the dawn
But in the morning... in the morning
When you wake up he'll be gone

Eighteen years later, fifteen-hundred miles from home
He can't shake her from his mind though the whiskey soaks
His bones
He heads out on a back-roads in the middle of the night
Petal to the metal, you know he timed that curve just right
But some bridges you cross over
But the rest you've got to burn
He may have lost the road the road
But I know he made his turn

And as we pulled him from the wreckage
I promised him a song
Cause it was clear that he was gone

Well leaving just came natural, that's the way it seemed to him
He'd been doing it so long, that's the way he'd always been
And you can find him in some hotel room with the television on
He might be high and he'll probably ramble on
You can laugh beneath fluorescent lights
And drink until the dawn
But in the morning... in the morning
When you wake up he'll be gone