Story Behind The Song

leaving a job unless you love it isn't hard but the friends you made while working there makes leaving harder

Lyrics

(Verse 1)
I've got the passenger seat pushed all the way back
Just enough room for the ghost of the pack
The cardboard boxes are taped at the seams
Full of winter coats and half-finished dreams
The engine is humming a cold, hollow tune
Underneath the light of a fading afternoon
I checked the mirrors, I checked them again
But I'm looking for faces that won't be there then.


(Chorus)
It's not the leaving that burns in my chest
It's not the miles or the need for the rest
It's not the pavement that's stretching out wide
Or the map spread out on the passenger side
I don't mind the engine, I don't mind the start
But leaving without friends is the hard part
Yeah, leaving without friends is the hard part.


(Verse 2)
There's a booth at the diner where we carved out our names
Between the coffee rings and the unspoken claims
I'm pulling away from the curb and the town
Watching the skyline just sink and go down
There's no one to wave from the edge of the street
No one to tell me that I'll land on my feet
Just the radio static and the hum of the tires
And the distance growing like a lack of desires.


(Bridge)
They say that home is wherever you land
But it's hard to build castles in unfamiliar sand
When the laughter I'm missing is locked in the past
And I'm driving too slowly to make the light last
I'd trade every horizon, every sun-drenched view
Just to have one more hour at the table with you.


(Chorus)
'Cause it's not the leaving that burns in my chest
It's not the miles or the need for the rest
It's not the pavement that's stretching out wide
Or the map spread out on the passenger side
I don't mind the engine, I don't mind the start
But leaving without friends is the hard part
Yeah, leaving without friends is the hard part.


(Outro)
So I'll turn up the music to drown out the quiet
I'll find a new city, I'll learn how to try it
But the rearview is lonely, the road is so long
And silence is just such a difficult song
Yeah, it's a difficult song.
Leaving is easy.
The friends... that's the hard part.