David

My friend David was a good kid
He had my back, always knew he did
He was different than most
And maybe I was too
Hanging out with the in-crowd just wasn't our thing
There was a whole lot more
Than we could see on these plains
Well, some people just seem to get stuck, and hang around
It's college or trade school for those with the means
There's never been any small town dreams
For those in between
Yeah the poor folks they go to work, or they go to war
I did fifteen hundred days in the Corps
And I got back, nothing looked the same anymore
I got on with the local police, it just seemed to fit
Things have changed

By then David had a daughter and a son
And a rap sheet to prove all the time that he'd done
He was just a burned out, beat down shell of my old friend
And on a three-day binge he was speeding through town
And I bumped the wailers just to try to slow him down
He didn't know it was me, and he took off
Oh how things change

And I found his truck in the floodplain upside down
It was a hell of a rain I don't know if he drowned
Or if he died on impact, must have rolled three times
Yeah, the only thing to make matters worse
Is that his mama's a late night ER nurse
And he was DOA, she just about lost her mind

David's wife drops by every once in a while
And childhood stories always make her smile
But somehow we always go back to that day

When I found his truck in the floodplain upside down
It was a hell of a rain, I don't know if he drowned
Or if he died on impact, it must have rolled three times
Yeah, the only thing to make matters worse
Is that his mama's a late night ER nurse
And he was DOA, she just about lost her mind

And ain't it the times?