The old generation has devoured the new
Spitting out fire on the way to the moon
Plowing down the past to build stone monuments to nothing

And the last of the veteran’s kneeling to pray
Said the end of the world, kids, is coming on soon
And I’m jumping from rooftops to see if I can fly

And though the sound was triumphant, I’ll never forget
The rained-out games and fire pits
And they told us, baby, that we couldn’t ignite
But we lit ourselves up and I cried

Take heart, my baby, have I ever led you wrong?
I know every ride out of this town is long
But it’s not so uneventful when the tide gets lower dear
And if you get the chance, Jessie, promise you’ll let the smoke clear

There are nights when we’d like to set fire to it all
From the sinners we mourned to the saviors we called
To the rooms in California that were all bought out by the cults

And Jessie’s staring in awe at what the future could bring
And the lovers whose rings only shine when they sing
If you’re gonna make it out, you’re gonna make it with me

She said, “you look like a dead man I used to know”
And the whole world was shaking with the weight of her pulse
And her father wasn’t watching as we dropped off the bridge
Of a song by a man with his blood on his teeth

But take heart, my baby, have I ever led you wrong?
I know every ride out of this town is long
But it’s not so uneventful when the tide gets lower, dear
And if you get the chance, Jessie, promise you’ll let the smoke clear

And the hills where we watched the lights of the city
Are burning up like sunsets, and you know it’s fitting
And I’ll run, Jessie, run a thousand miles away
And I’ll call you a memory that faded away in the rain

She used to steal, but just enough to stay alive
She used to love these desperate songs, they used to hold us close in the night
If you see that she’s in town and finds she has something left to say
Won’t you send her on my way
And if you get the chance, won’t you tell her I let the smoke clear?