The Keys

Chevrolet

That's what the faded letters used to say

On the chain the dealer gave me

On the day I drove it away

Room 202, I didn't turn it in like you're supposed to

I was 18, she was 22

In that spring-break hotel room

I learned a thing or two

And it hangs there on a hook by my front door

Half of them don't even work no more

But I remember what each one used to be for

On a ring that holds the keys that unlock me

Master lock

I got more of those than most folks got

This gold one goes to the gate where we used to drink a lot

At the edge of Grandpa's crops

When he sold it, I stole it from underneath that rock

It hangs there on a hook by my front door

Half of them don't even work no more

But I remember what each one used to be for

On a ring that holds the keys that unlock me

This one here's a spare I'll never throw away

Mama put it there for me, just in case

I ever came back home one day

Still on the ring that holds the keys that unlock me