The whole ride home, I thought about your life How you were just nineteen when you took a wife Thought of a young man, landing in France Braver then me, the first to show up at the dance And I thought what you told me that night in Berlin How you may lose, but there's no way you'll win Leaving your country when you were just ten You came to Wisconsin, and they let you in My heart, it feels like a pedal steel My heart knows what is real And of all of the books that you told me to read Here's my little secret, if you'd stay and won't leave You left me your shirts, a belt buckle of pearl A legacy, yeah, for me and my girl My heart, it feels like a pedal steel My heart knows what is real In this whole crazy life, so big and so small There's so much to enjoy, but you can't do it all So you start everyday with a choice to decide You think of the others who've lived and who've died And you pray you'll take as much away You'll have lived it as well at the end of the day, yeah And of all of the things I remember So many times to be missed In the end with a wink and a wave Well the old man just blew me a kiss And maybe if he'd had a son Things might have been different somehow Maybe I wouldn't have known you And I wouldn't feel so fucked up now And maybe if I do my best, if I do everything I can do I'll consider my life a success if I'm anything like you My heart, yeah, it feels like a pedal steel And my heart And my heart, yeah, it feels like a pedal steel And my heart knows what is real