Old Friends

I’ve got a picture of you and me

From maybe 1982

You were 27

I was almost 22

We’re singing with somebody

Who isn't in the frame

Smiling at each other

Matching every phrase

Suspending notes that don't belong

Seconds and sixths whatever we want

And it feels like flying

Always landing somewhere new

Weaving a shared tapestry

That’s what you and I do

I was working the bar at open mike

The night you came to town

I’d heard about a girl

Better than anyone around

I got up and sang a tune

While Robbie watched the bar

Then the whole place got quiet

For your voice and your guitar

I remember us sitting on the floor

Singing every song we knew

Richard and Linda Thompson

Gram and Emmylou

We could tell each other anything

And we still do

Keeping our shared secrets

That’s what good friends do

And if I’d never met you

So much I never would have done

All those gigs you got me

All those great country songs

The record we made

Gave me this path I’m on

The way you showed all the guys

A girl could sing and write a song

And as it sometimes goes

We went separate ways

Who was right and who was wrong

Neither one of us can say

And it doesn't matter now

It was so long ago

Like water under the bridge

Life flows where it must go

So here we are in your hotel room

Singing Gram and Emmylou

20 years 20,000 roads

Have brought me back to you

Older a little wiser

Than back in 1982

Sharing a history

That’s what old friends do

Sharing a history

That’s what old friends do