Always Drive a Cadillac

It was the Senior High School yearbook
The class of sixty-three
I'll never forget the day you gave
Your book and pen to me
It was all talked out and settled
You knew I'd understand
A girl with dreams as big as yours
Just had to make some plans

So I turned to your best picture
Most likely to succeed
The only one in the whole damn book
That didn't show you with me
And it said that you liked inner strength
So I tried to be true to form
And I hid my teenage broken heart
And instead I signed this poem

I hope you always drive a Cadillac
I hope you always drink champagne
I hope you always shine with the sunshine
I hope you never have to face the rain
Unless the clouds are lined in silver
May every heart you meet be gold
And may you find the world as kind as you've been told

All the news of you that got back home
Was no surprise to me
You came, you saw, you conquered
At every turn there were victories
And the men came and the men went
And some of them might have stayed
But their dreams weren't silk or linen
And their invitations weren't engraved

At the ten-year class reunion
They read your personal note
And enlarged your cover photograph
In your full-length sable coat
But the words underneath the picture
Were what mattered most to me
There was something in between the lines
That no one else could see

It said I always drive a Cadillac
I will always drink champagne
And if you make time while the sun shines
You can buy your way out of the rain
I travel fast because I go alone
Everybody gets bought and sold
And I wondered if you'd really become that cold

That was the last word anyone heard from you
Until I got your card today
A single line and signature
That said, "I'm coming home to stay"
I wonder what life has done to you
I wonder why you thought of me
But if you dropped by to say hello
I wonder what you'd think if you'd see me

An old ragged high school yearbook
That falls open to just one page
With a picture of a young girl's face
Full of beauty and dreams and rage
And the words beside the picture
Is the verse that's still so true
It's the one I swore no one would read
Unless I showed it to you

To me, you'll always drive a Cadillac
Your laughter is my champagne
And you'll carry my heart wherever you go
Even if I never see you again
But if you bring it back home to me
Maybe then it will mean you know
That the strongest love's the love that lets you go

To me, you'll always drive a Cadillac
Your laughter is my champagne
And you'll carry my heart wherever you go
Even if I never see you again
But if you bring it back home to me
Maybe then it will mean you know
That the strongest love's the love that lets you go

I hope you always drive a Cadillac
I hope you always drive a Cadillac