When I was young there was fire in my lungs And I just wanted someone to listen Some ears to ignite with my pen and my tongue Oh I knew it was all just a wish But that don't mean it couldn't exist Just seventeen, yeah, I gave up my gun To play this guitar in the trenches To sing in the face of a man-eating sun That Florida heat is a bitch But I wouldn't trade nothing for it When I was young When I was young I got myself broke and beat down, busted up Left too many words on the tip of my tongue But oh, I was singing at the top of my lungs Every night Spinning wheels turning, I fell into love Swallowed up in a sea of forgiveness I've got a crooked killer heart, I've got bastard blood But my God, oh, my God, I forgive That you keep on paying for these second hand sins When I was young When I was young I was hiding in corners to stay out of sight Giving my best but still falling behind But I was reborn in the dust and the pines Oh, my When I was young Oh, and now I'm getting pushed and pulled apart And I don't know where it ends or where it starts And all of those neon lights Outside of my window Tell me it's not 11 yet It's getting close though And now I just don't know what to do Then I said Matt, you just gotta get back To those nights where you sat on the causeway All you had was six strings and a heart that beat And you knew that it had to mean something Yeah you knew that it had to mean something I just knew it was better than nothing When I was young When I was young I played rock and roll music on broken guitars Spent the whole night laying out under stars She told me she loved me with her hand on her heart Now I'm turning these pages and holding on tight Living this life like I'm never gonna die Living this life like I'm never gonna die Living this life like I'm never gonna die, die, die When I was young