If I asked you where your smile went,
you'd probably say you lost it in Boston.
The city where your parents fell out of love
and your family fell apart.
Where you dropped out of high school
to help pay the bills,
and dropped your dreams down the drain, too.
The place that holds dark memories
that run you down,
that sempiternally hang over you like storm clouds
of depression.
The place always that reminds you of the whirlwinds,
no,
the tornados in your chest
that are brought on by too many lonely, drunk nights.

If you asked me where my smile went,
I'd probably be too reluctant to tell you.
But without asking, you already knew.
You know I lost it in Cincinnati,
the city where I fell apart.
Where my weak knees dropped me,
the place that I feel invaded by a cool breeze
that seeps through my skin to remind me that I'm empty, too.
The place that a hazy fog harasses my mind,
to remind me of my lonely nights,
that happen all the time.

But if I asked you where you could find your smile again,
I hope you'd say California.
In a city off the coast,
surrounded by warm breeze and palm trees
and the kind of sunlight that makes you believe in Heaven.
Where you were no longer filling houses with insulation,
but with your lyrics and music.
A place with open arms
and wide open opportunities,
because that's what you deserve.
In California, there'd be no more lonely, drunk nights,

because if you asked me where I could find my smile again,
I'd say California,
too,
as long as it was with you.