Heading back home from Nashville after 30 days on the road
Too many drinks in the bar each night and too few tickets sold
Coming back home to my sweetheart and our king-size bed
But when I walked in the front door, this is what she said
"You'd better quit playin' that guitar
Choose it or me 'cause I don't see chords paying for a house and a car
You'd better quit writin' songs
Otherwise, you'll wake up one morning and I'll be gone"
So I went and sat at a desk in an office, working 50 hours a week
Drinking bitter, lukewarm coffee in the morning and staring at a screen
Then I fell asleep in a 4-hour meeting after a midnight show downtown
I got dragged to the company courtroom and this is the sentence they handed down
"You'd better quit playin' that guitar
Straighten up 'cause we don't know where your priorities are
You'd better quit writin' songs
One more slip and you'll push us too far and find yourself out of a job"
I went home and I thought a little while, I had myself a beer
Then I had another, and another to make sure my thinking was clear
Why am I doing all this workin' if I never get the chance to play?
So I'm breaking up with that girl and that day job and this is what I'll say
"Hey darling, I'm still playin' this guitar
I'm not sure just how compatible you and me are
Hey bossman, I'm still singin' these songs
And if you don't like it, maybe this job was wrong for me all along"