[Intro]
One, two...
There you were
with your shoes in your hand,
saying,
“Come on.
Let's go before somebody stops us.”
[Verse 1]
We had nowhere to be
and no money to spend,
just a train leaving town
and the afternoon ahead.
You wore that yellow coat
your mother said looked strange,
I had a pocket full of coins
and absolutely nothing planned.
We bought two tickets
without reading where they went,
laughed when the conductor asked
if we were sure about it.
We said:
“Of course.”
We weren't.
That was half the fun.
Back then every wrong direction
felt like somewhere worth becoming.
[Pre-Chorus]
Oh, don't look back.
The station's getting small.
For once in our lives
we don't need to know at all.
[Chorus]
That was the day we ran away,
with the whole wide world
waiting at the end of the railway.
The day we ran away,
we didn't know where we were going,
but we knew
we couldn't stay.
Hold my hand.
Don't ask why.
There's a different kind of blue
in an unfamiliar sky.
That was the day...
the day we ran away.
[Verse 2]
We found a little town
with a clock that didn't work,
ate something we couldn't pronounce
from a man in a paper hat.
You said:
“Let's never go home.”
Then laughed
before I could answer.
Because even then
we knew forever
was something young people said
when they meant:
“not yet.”
We sat beside a river
throwing stones into the light,
invented names for strangers
passing slowly on their bikes.
You called one Mr. Monday.
I called another June.
For a couple of hours
we made the whole place ours.
[Pre-Chorus]
Oh, don't look back.
The evening's coming down.
If tomorrow needs us badly,
it can find us
somewhere out of town.
[Chorus]
That was the day we ran away,
with the whole wide world
waiting at the end of the railway.
The day we ran away,
we didn't know where we were going,
but we knew
we couldn't stay.
Hold my hand.
Don't ask why.
There's a different kind of blue
in an unfamiliar sky.
That was the day...
the day we ran away.
[Verse 3]
Years later
I found the ticket
inside a book
I never finished.
The ink was almost gone.
Your handwriting wasn't.
You'd written:
“Best day ever.”
Then underneath:
“Don't get sensible.”
I laughed so hard
I nearly cried.
Because somewhere between then and now
I learned to wear a watch,
answer emails,
make appointments,
and call staying home
“being responsible.”
Funny.
We spent that whole day
trying to get lost.
And somehow...
I think that's the last time
I knew exactly where I was.
[Bridge]
[Harpsichord entering]
Where did the afternoon go?
Where did the yellow coat go?
Where did the boy go
who boarded a train
without knowing
where it would stop?
[Strings rising]
Maybe he's still there.
Maybe she's there too.
Sitting by the river,
making up names
for people passing through.
[Psychedelic organ swell]
Maybe some versions of us
never really come home.
[Final Chorus]
That was the day we ran away,
when the whole wide world
was only one train away.
The day we ran away,
when being young meant believing
you could leave
and still come back the same.
Hold my hand.
Don't ask why.
There's still a little blue
from that unfamiliar sky.
That was the day...
the day we ran away.
And if I found that train tonight...
I think I'd ride.
[Outro]
Two old tickets.
One faded line:
“Don't get sensible.”
...
I'm trying.
