Ashes on the Dashboard

[Verse 1]
You left your jacket
On the back of that chair
Smell of cheap cologne
Still hanging in the air
Half-warm coffee
Lipstick on the rim
I keep wiping at the counter
Like I might wipe you from my skin
[Chorus]
Now it’s ashes on the dashboard
Tires on a long dirt road
I keep talking to your ghost
Babe
Like you’re picking up the phone
If I’d loved you like I meant it
Would you still be here at home?
Now it’s ashes on the dashboard
And a full tank runnin’ low
[Verse 2]
I hear your laughter
When the screen door shakes
Your shadow in the headlight
Every curve I take
That picture on the visor
Keeps swingin’ in the night
You’re staring through the sunset
While I’m blinded by the light
[Chorus]
Now it’s ashes on the dashboard
Tires on a long dirt road
I keep talking to your ghost
Babe
Like you’re picking up the phone
If I’d loved you like I meant it
Would you still be here at home?
Now it’s ashes on the dashboard
And a full tank runnin’ low
[Bridge]
I pull over by the river (oh)
Where we carved our names in stone
Water took the letters
Like time took what we owned
I strike another match
Let it flicker
Let it fade
I was late to say “I’m sorry”
Now I’m early to the grave
[Chorus]
Now it’s ashes on the dashboard
Tires on a long dirt road
I keep talking to your ghost
Babe
Like you’re picking up the phone
If I’d loved you like I meant it
Would you still be here at home?
Now it’s ashes on the dashboard
And a full tank runnin’ low
[Outro]
Just a dusty old horizon
And your name under my breath
I keep drivin’
Keep denyin’
But I can’t outrun your death (oh no)
Ashes on the dashboard
And my heart
A cigarette

folk, Slow-building Southern rock power ballad; male vocals, dirty smoky tone. Opens with sparse piano and brushed snare, then adds bluesy acoustic and low electric swells. Verses stay intimate and gravelly; chorus hits wide with gritty belted highs, organ pad, and singing lead guitar riffs. Final chorus lifts with stacked harmonies, cymbal crashes, and a soaring outro solo that fades on a held vocal ad-lib., tone, ballad, emotional, blues, acoustic, male vocals