He was eighteen and wasted
A bedroom in the basement
Parents' house, Tucson, Arizona
What do expect from a high school diploma?

Working hours in the shoe store
Selling dimes out the back door
And he puts on his prom crown
Says to his Mama, "I'm the king of this town"

Won't you take me out?
I hear the midnight streets a-calling
You can hold me down
But like a bird I'm just free falling

Here's to these American nights
We're having the time of our lives
Living, dreaming, feeling, never sleeping
'Til we see the morning light
On these American nights

Neighborhood kid, just back from the desert
Tattoo and a discharge letter
VA in the Saint John
Six times a week he still sleeps with his boots on

She skipped track up to Brooklyn
With a dream and some tanned skin
Graveyard at The Rhino
This is the place where the stars shine, y'know?

Won't you take me out?
I hear the midnight streets a-calling
You can hold me down
But like a bird I'm just free falling

Here's to these American nights
We're having the time of our lives
Living, dreaming, feeling, never sleeping
'Til we see the morning light
On these American nights

(These American nights)
(These American nights)

The sky's black in November
And nothing good lasts forever
12-gauge heart in a machine-gun town
Whole life running, ya can't stop now

Here's to these American nights
We're having the time of our lives
Living on a feeling, got a feeling
That it's gonna be alright
On these American nights

(These American nights)
(These American nights)
(These American nights)
(These American nights) on these American nights