Some stranger took the stool beside me,
said the best seats face the west.
Bought a round like we went back twenty years,
and put the rest of the world to rest.
He told me about his old man,
the hurricane, the boats it stole,
why he stayed to raise the dock back up—
somewhere in there he got ahold of my soul.
The sky went from gold to gone,
and I never caught his name,
but I carried him out past the harbor lights,
and I've never been quite the same.
Every town leaves a scar,
somewhere down beneath the skin.
I'd wear every one again,
I'd let every one back in.
The ones you choose, the ones that chose you,
the ones you carry till you're gone—
every town leaves a scar,
and I wouldn't take back a single one.
There was a bar in Sydney, older than the country,
where a widow took the stool by mine.
Eighty years, still wearin' her ring,
nursin' a glass of red wine.
She told me all about her husband—
forty years, and then he was gone—
how he'd pull her up in the kitchen
and dance her to some old song.
She patted my hand like she'd known me for years,
said, "don't let a good one slide by."
Then she finished her wine and she walked on home,
and left one more song behind.
Every town leaves a scar,
somewhere down beneath the skin.
I'd wear every one again,
I'd let every one back in.
The ones you choose, the ones that chose you,
the ones you carry till you're gone—
every town leaves a scar,
and I wouldn't take back a single one.
Funny...
I used to think the trick
was gettin' through without a scar—
head down, playin' it careful,
never wanderin' too far.
Now there's a faded scar beside my first tattoo—
one I reached for, and one reached for me too.
Turns out it ain't the scars I regret...
it's every sunset I watched alone,
and every stranger I never met.
No, I wouldn't trade one scar
for the quiet life I had before—
Lord... I just wish I'd earned a few more.
Every town leaves a scar,
somewhere down beneath the skin.
I'd wear every one again,
I'd let every one back in.
The ones you choose, the ones that chose you,
the ones you carry till you're gone—
every town leaves a scar…
and every one of 'em brought me home.
Right here—
every one of 'em, right here.
That's how I got here.