Gone By Morning (Live Version)

[Verse 1]
[Talk-singing, rhythmic, riding the groove]
Drove out of Atlanta on the first day of July.
Air so thick I couldn't tell the asphalt from the sky.
Everything I owned was in the bed behind the cab.
A duffel bag, a guitar, and a life I didn't plan to have.
Hit the county line and something shifted in my chest.
Like the rearview finally quit competing with what's next.
Cranked the window down and let the highway fill my lungs.
Felt like the second half of something barely just begun.

[Pre-Chorus]
[Beat builds, bass deepens, melody starts to lift]
I don't know where I'm headed and I don't much care.
Every mile puts a little more distance in the air.
Between the man who stayed too long and the man who's finally free.
Only thing I'm chasing now is whoever I'm gonna be.

[Chorus]
[Full groove drops — melodic, anthemic, 808s hit hard under bright acoustic]
I'm gone by morning, gone before the sun.
Gone before the coffee's cold, gone before I'm done.
Every town's a stranger and every stranger's got a story.
I'm collecting miles like souvenirs.
And I'm gone by morning.

[Verse 2]
[Back to talk-singing, a little more swagger now]
Kansas City looked at me like I was overdressed.
Khaki shorts and boat shoes in a bar that knew me best.
As "that guy from somewhere east who doesn't know the drill."
But the band was playing covers and the whiskey hit the bill.
Sioux Falls had a diner where the chicken-fried was king.
The waitress called me "honey" and it didn't mean a thing.
But it meant enough to sit there feeling human for an hour.
Eating food that fought back harder than a marriage going sour.

[Pre-Chorus]
[Groove tightens, snare rolls build]
Still a little city in the places I don't fit.
Still reaching for a menu like it's something I submit.
But nobody's keeping score out here, nobody's taking notes.
Just another drifter learning how to stay afloat.

[Chorus]
I'm gone by morning, gone before the sun.
Gone before the coffee's cold, gone before I'm done.
Every town's a stranger and every stranger's got a story.
I'm collecting miles like souvenirs.
And I'm gone by morning.

[Verse 3]
[Groove pulls back slightly — still rhythmic but more cinematic]
Found a motel west of Tucson where the AC barely tried.
Lay on top of the sheets and felt the heat waves off the ride.
Ceiling fan clicked circles like a clock that lost its mind.
And I smiled, 'cause for the first time I had nowhere else to find.
Played a set in some roadside place where nobody knew my name.
A girl with turquoise earrings said she liked the way I came.
Alive up on that barstool with a beat-up borrowed sound.
I was the excitement that rolled into town.
And I'd be gone before the next one came around.

[Bridge]
[Beat strips to just 808 pulse and acoustic guitar, talk-singing, dry and honest]
Now I won't pretend I don't think about the yard.
The neighbors and the mortgage and the life that fell apart.
But the thing about a rearview is it only shows you where you've been.
And I've been there long enough, I'm not going back again.
[Beat builds back — hi-hats double up, bass swells, energy surges]
The road don't care about your credit score.
Don't care about your lawn.
It just keeps on rolling forward.
And it wants you to come along.

[Chorus — Final]
[Everything hits — full 808 drop, acoustic guitar bright on top, handclaps layer in]
I'm gone by morning, gone before the sun
Gone before the coffee's cold, gone before I'm done
Every town's a first date and every sunset's something new
I'm collecting who I am one highway at a time
And I'm gone by morning
Yeah, I'm gone by morning

[Outro]
[Beat rides out, acoustic guitar on top of a low bass pulse, easy and cool]
[Half-laughing, spoken over the groove] Checkout's at eleven… but I never make it past dawn.

[Final 808 hit]

[AUDIENCE CHEERING]

[SPOKEN:] Thank you! Good Night Y'all!