Burn Ban

Verse 1

Acoustic guitar and voice

It was the driest August that the county ever sawSheriff put a sign up at the bait shop by the lakeNo fireworks, no bonfires, not a cigarette in the grassAnd you pulled up in your daddy's truck with a cooler and a laugh

Chorus

There was a burn ban on the whole damn countyNot a spark allowed from the river to the lineAnd we still set it on fireEvery night that summer, me and you and that old tailgateThere was a burn ban on the whole damn countyAnd we burned it down anyway

Verse 2

Harmonica joins

You had a scar on your ankle from a barbed wire fenceAnd a way of saying my name like it was a dareWe'd lie out on the dock and count the planes going northAnd you swore you'd be on one of them before the first frost

Chorus

There was a burn ban on the whole damn countyNot a spark allowed from the river to the lineAnd we still set it on fireEvery night that summer, me and you and that old tailgateThere was a burn ban on the whole damn countyAnd we burned it down anyway

Verse 3

It rained on the first of September like it never rained at allThey lifted the ban, and you were gone before the fallNow every August when the grass turns brown and the sheriff hangs that signI drive out to the lake and I sit there with my matches in my hand

Bridge

Everything drops to harmonica and guitar

And I don't strike oneI don't need toSome fires don't go outWhen the rain comes through

Final Chorus

Full band, voice cracking and shouting

There was a burn ban on the whole damn countyNot a spark allowed from the river to the lineAnd we still set it on fireEvery night that summer, me and you and that old tailgateThere's a burn ban on the whole damn countyAnd I'm still burning anyway

Outro

Harmonica alone, fading