'Song 1'
"Playing In The Bronco"
© 2025 Joshua Gallagher. All rights reserved.
20 Years in the writing
6 months of production
Verse 1
I was playin’ in the Bronco,
tin cans for my toys
Mail stacked on the dashboard
No names for the boys
Sun slipping sideways
through the cracked window seam
And Mom said, “Wait here,”
like it meant anything.
Verse 2
I made engine sounds with my throat
Drove nowhere down the seat
No heat in the floorboards
Just the thud of my feet
The dash lights blinked like Christmas
in a house I'd never see
Five labels on the mail
But none belonged to me
Pre-Chorus
I asked, “Where are you, Mom?”
I said it out loud
I whispered to the upholstery
I screamed it at the clouds
MOM?
mom?
mommy come back?
be with me
mommy come back?
be with me
please stand someplace
someplace
that I can see?
Chorus
She walked the white line on the freeway
With headlights in her eyes
And the drunk never saw her
But he took her just the same
And now I live inside this Bronco
Like it’s got a goddamn name
I live inside this silence
And the silence knows my name
Verse 3
I made a seatbelt into a blanket
Made the glovebox into drawers
Heard the wolves of hunger
scratch beneath the doors
Mama’s scent was on the visor
For a week or maybe three
But time don’t run in circles
It just runs away from me
Chorus
She walked the white line on the freeway
Like it might lead her home
But the ghosts drive fast in this country
And they never ride alone
I live inside this Bronco
The world passed me by
I was three when I got older
I was three when I knew why
Bridge
They towed it once
To a junkyard grave
But I still feel her fingers
When I misbehave
Her voice is a smell
Her name is a fog
I keep her in the console
With a ketchup-stained log
Final Chorus
She walked that white line on the freeway
With headlights in her eyes
And I watched her fade through the window
While I stayed and learned to lie
Now I live inside this Bronco
Where the sky don't mean a thing
And if there’s a God that’s listening
Then let that fucker sing
Outro
Where are you, Mom?
Where are you, Mom?
Where are you, Mom?
Where are you, Mom?
Where are..
