Britney was a girl living out of the wood
the roads covered in gravel from a century ago
when her mamaw, half-German, supposedly settled fine
she now has a thing growing in her 13 year old womb
the father’s from the city, getting into trouble in the hood
our last names shared the same letter
so we sat next to each other
but sixth grade it already so hard
so when she left i lost my charm

i’m a joker wild
i am a motherless child
i’m born in the free
ah, but i don’t got anything

and some won’t understand
how the world can be so different
in just one night, for all your life
take the way they look at you
and there’s something off
it’s not quite like it was before
you came out

Mrs. Henry, i’ve already wrote you a song
but fifth grade seemed so easy at the time
now when i look back on you, i realize it was pretty fucking hard
i often think about the power of the pen
how you made the class so bored
but there was this brain of yours on display
in your stories of whimsy and anglo dreams
about the history you made to fiction
and how i’m now doing the same dame thing

the Rodriguez girls moved into the trailer park
their mom didn’t work, she stayed in her bed in the dark
and they invited me over to watch Daria and Scream
and i told them i wanted to make movies and they said ‘let’s do that then’
so i got a camcorder from the pantry at my place
and we made a movie called ‘The Club’
about a killer woman killing for jewelry
and that summer between fourth and fifth grade
they were gone by the first day of school

i’m a joker wild
i am a motherless child

some won’t understand
how the world can be so different
in just one night, for all your life
(it seems bright, but then you)
take the way they look at you
and there’s something off
it’s not quite like it was before
you came out

Shelby, her dad was doing his time
and she’d talk about her therapist as if we all had our own on the line
while i was in my own world
during school, after lunch, she was there in the library
in the chair next to me at the computer station
‘Brokeback Mountain’ in my stack of DVDs
she said, ‘hey, i know you’re gay’
and i said no
‘yeah okay, bro’, that’s what she said
and then she started sitting at that computer next to me
not talking a whole lot week after week
but she said once, ‘you’re a good friend to me’
yeah, freshman year, before we could share our live feeds
all we’re gonna be

some won’t understand
how the world can be so different
in just one night, for all your life
take the way they look at you
and there’s something off
it’s not quite like it was before
you came out

trip on their words and it’s like you can’t get to know them
run back into them and it’s like they never forgot you
and it’s because you’ve got this fucking neon sign flashing
this label as a halo over the top of your head

some won’t understand
how the world can be so different
in just one night, for all your life
some won’t understand
take the way they look at you
and there’s something off
it’s not quite like it was before
you came out

some won’t understand
how the world can be so different
in just one night, for all your life
(it seems bright, but then you)
take the way they look at you
and there’s something off
it’s not quite like it was before
you came out

trip on their words and it’s like you can’t get to know them
run back into them and it’s like they never forgot you
and it’s because you’ve got this fucking neon sign flashing
this label as a halo over the top of your head