Cold Shoulders
Verse 1
I raised you on the warm side of every love I had
Kept the wind off of your collar through the good years and the bad
Never sent you off to sleep without a “love you” and a light
Now you turn your shoulder to me like the coldest winter night
Pre-Chorus
And somebody taught you winter
Lord, I know it wasn’t me
Chorus
Cold shoulder, burns like icy fire
Cruelest thing I know
Takes no words, takes no fight
Just a back turned in the snow
I gave you every bit of warm I had
And I’m still holding on to love
But ice will burn you just like fire
If you hold it long enough
Verse 2
Now you’re walking my old campus in the Iowa snow
Wearing down the same old sidewalks I wore down long ago
Are you following my footsteps, or headed for your mama’s stone,
Or the cousins’ porch you grew up by? I’d ask, but I’ll never know
Pre-Chorus
Somebody taught you winter
Lord, I know it wasn’t me
Chorus
Verse 3
Every October I mail a little warm across the miles
A card, a gift, a “happy birthday,” something just to make you smile
Not a thank-you, not a phone call, not a thumbs-up on a screen
I can’t even tell if they reach you, or just vanish in between
Bridge
I wrote a whole damn musical
Forty songs and a curtain call
And all I’m asking back from you
Is one little thumbs-up, that’s all
And we don’t have forever, kid
I’ve got less of it than most
Don’t make me sing the rest of this
To an empty chair and a ghost
Verse 4
So this year there’s no envelope, the hardest thing I’ve ever done
It’s not that I stopped loving you, I’m just tired of mailing love to no one
Your chair’s still at the table and the porch light’s burning on
But I can’t keep standing in your cold, I’ve been out here too long
Final Chorus
Cold shoulder, burns like icy fire
Cruelest thing I know
Takes no words, takes no fight
Just a back turned in the snow
I gave you every bit of warm I had
And I’m still holding on to love
But I’m setting down the ice now, son
I’ve held it long enough
Outro
Light’s still on, kid
Whenever you turn around