Cedar Heart and Whippoorwill

[Intro]
[Verse]
The eighty-seven Ford is humming low
The needle's stuck on forty-five
I'm watching all the shadows grow
Feeling lucky just to be alive
The upholstery is torn and thin
Where his elbow used to rest
I feel the spirit deep within
Beneath this heavy denim vest
[Pre-Chorus]
The gates are locked with rusted chain
The saws are silent in the rain
But the air still smells of cedar pine
Like a memory frozen in time
[Chorus]
In the dash there’s a whippoorwill
Carved from scrap at the family mill
Half-finished wings and a cedar heart
Where the labor ends and the love starts
The paychecks faded years ago
But the grain of the wood begins to glow
Yeah, some things never stand still
Like my granddad’s wooden whippoorwill
[Post-Chorus]
Let it fly
In the golden sky
Let it fly
[Verse]
I parked beside the loading bay
Where three generations stood their ground
The golden light begins to gray
On a town that lost its only sound
I reached inside that cubby hole
And felt the knife marks in the wood
A piece of a quiet, working soul
Who did the very best he could
[Pre-Chorus]
The ledger books are closed for good
They took the steel, they left the wood
But they couldn't take the calluses
Or the grace within these palaces
[Chorus]
In the dash there’s a whippoorwill
Carved from scrap at the family mill
Half-finished wings and a cedar heart
Where the labor ends and the love starts
The paychecks faded years ago
But the grain of the wood begins to glow
Yeah, some things never stand still
Like my granddad’s wooden whippoorwill
[Bridge]
His hands were rough as hickory bark
He carved his light into the dark
He didn't leave a pile of gold
Just a story that's still being told
In the curl of a shaving on the floor
In the swing of a heavy workshop door
[Solo]
[Chorus]
In the dash there’s a whippoorwill
Carved from scrap at the family mill
Half-finished wings and a cedar heart
Where the labor ends and the love starts
The paychecks faded years ago
But the grain of the wood begins to glow
Yeah, some things never stand still
Like my granddad’s wooden whippoorwill
[Hook]
It’s a cedar heart
It’s a brand new start
It’s a cedar heart
[Outro]