Smile Bigger

Intro
Some people get nervous
when you stop being
who they already forgave themselves
for looking down on.

Tuff


Verse 1
Some people mad
they should probably be glad

The life I used to lead
was getting difficult to watch

Now I’m doing all right
and they’re taking it hard

Like getting out alive
wasn’t part of the plot

They ask what I’m working on
I tell ’em the dream

They look at each other like
“More plots, more schemes”

Same people cheering
when it fit in the room

Get a little less supportive
when the thing starts to move

They know my darkest secrets
hold ’em like receipts

Tuff what people save
when you stop buying what they sell

Keep telling stories
with an old version of me

Like I’m still in that house
being somebody else

But that address ain’t mine

That number don’t ring

You keep calling out a name
that don’t belong to me

I could argue every detail
till we both disappear

Or let the silence say
I haven’t lived there in years


Pre-Chorus
No explanation

No defense

Some doors close quietly
and still stay shut


Chorus
Smile bigger

Let ’em get the picture wrong

They came looking for the old me

He don’t live here anymore

Smile bigger

You don’t have to make ’em see

Some people only love your future

When it doesn’t set you free

Let ’em talk

Let ’em finish

You don’t need the final word
Smile bigger

Keep building

Let your life do all the work


Verse 2
Friday morning
waiting on the crew

Empty studio
couple cables on the floor

One light working
one wall half-done

Whole thing looks smaller
than it did inside my head

My wife’s picking up our son
from daycare

I check the time
then lose an hour moving chairs

I used to pray to God
for mornings just like this

Now I’m standing in the answer
looking for what needs fixed

Guess the brain keeps working
after danger clocks out

Still checks every window
still maps every route

Still reaches for the wheel
when the road turns strange

Like seven good years
could disappear in one lane

I took enough detours
that went straight through hell

Called it finding myself
while I was losing everybody else
Now I loosen my hands
when I don’t understand

Maybe faith is letting Someone steer
without demanding the plan

I wanna go high
I wanna go far

I can walk into the light
I just can’t live at the bar

The only bars I need now
got rhythm underneath

And the only thing I’m chasing
is a little room to breathe


Chorus
Smile bigger

Let ’em get the picture wrong

They came looking for the old me

He don’t live here anymore

Smile bigger

You don’t have to make ’em see

Some people only love your future

When it doesn’t set you free

Let ’em talk

Let ’em finish

You don’t need the final word

Smile bigger

Keep building

Let your life do all the work


Bridge
I don’t hate the man I was

He got me far enough
But I don’t owe him
the rest of my life

And I don’t blame the ones
who only recognize his face

They weren’t there
when God called me
by another name


Final Chorus
Smile bigger

Let ’em get the picture wrong

They came looking for the old me

He don’t live here anymore

Smile bigger

There’s a child down the hall

There’s a woman in the doorway

There’s a future on the wall

Let ’em talk

Let ’em finish

They can keep what they remember

Smile bigger

Keep building

You don’t live there anymore


Outro
They know the story.

Just not the ending.