The Tornado

[00:00.82] It was just starting to drizzle as I walked out the door

[00:05.37] But I've delivered papers in the rain like that before

[00:09.62] Three thirty in the morning, I was happy as a lark

[00:13.87] As I grabbed my bike and rode into the dark

[00:18.92] I pedaled through the neighborhood, the weather on my mind

[00:23.17] The wind was picking up and howling louder all the time

[00:27.95] The sky churned like a cauldron and the distant thunder roared

[00:31.94] And I knew that I was in for quite a storm

[00:36.99] A little rain never hurt no one so I kept pressing on

[00:40.96] And I tried to tell myself, it's always darkest before the dawn

[00:48.14] Lightning struck an oak tree as I leapt off my bike

[00:52.39] The sirens started wailing but there was no good place to hide

[00:56.63] I knew without a doubt, there was a twister touching down

[01:01.15] So I crawled into a culvert to wait it out

[01:05.94] The little bit of courage I had left was almost gone

[01:10.47] But I tried to tell myself, it's always darkest before the dawn

[01:17.39] And then the nightmare started, it got deafeningly loud

[01:21.37] Everything fiber in me screamed out but I couldn't make a sound

[01:26.18] The whirling of a vortex, a violent carousel

[01:30.16] It sounded like a freight train was dragging me to hell

[01:53.03] And this was my prayer, "Save me from this terrible nightmare"

[02:15.36] That was when I saw my family with my eyes shut real tight

[02:19.89] Would they know how much I loved them if this was how I died?

[02:24.95] No, I vowed I'd not be murdered by a monster in the sky that night

[02:36.69] But if I went home to heaven, at least that's where I'd belong

[02:40.93] Yeah I tried to tell myself, it's always darkest before the dawn

[02:47.58] So I kept hanging on

[02:49.43] I kept hanging on

[03:07.25] The shadows slowly melted as I was hunkered down

[03:11.24] Till at last the worst was over, the storm was dying out

[03:15.76] I crept out of that culvert and I went weak in the knees

[03:20.01] Cuz what I saw was a somber sight to see

[03:25.06] There was nothing but destruction and wreckage in that town

[03:29.31] Cars were upside down and houses leveled to the ground

[03:33.83] A twisted trampoline was hanging from the power lines

[03:38.09] I blinked a tear back cuz I felt lucky to be alive

[03:42.59] And that was how I learned to live when you can run but you can't hide

[03:47.38] How to feel trapped in a tunnel but come out the other side

[03:52.16] Cuz with all the stormy weather in the world, you learn to take

[03:56.67] Life one storm at a time, you don't have to be afraid

[03:59.86] And now when there's bad weather on the way, I stay calm

[04:08.09] And I keep hanging on because it's always darkest before the dawn

[04:22.78] And I keep hanging on

[04:31.81] I keep hanging on