Lyric discussion by ghoststories 

Cover art for The Backseat lyrics by Gaslight Anthem, The

It might be "try" instead of "tried", but considering the rest of the chorus is in past tense, I went with "tried".

In the backseats of burned out cars in the disenchantment lane The ideal angels twist and turn and ask forgiveness for future mistakes But you and I, we've been through this maybe a hundred times before Always hitching rides with strangers that papa warned us about before

But you know the summer always brought it, that wild and reckless breeze And in the backseat, we just tried to find some room for our knees And in the backseat, we just tried to find some room to breathe

And in the wild desert sun, we drove straight on through the night We rode a fever out of Boston, dreamed of California lights Come July, we'll ride the ferris wheel, go round and round and round And If you never let me go, well, I will never let you down

And you know the summer always brought it, all those wild and reckless breezes And in the backseat, we just tried to find some room for our knees And in the backseat, we just tried to find some room to breathe And now in the backseat, we just try to find some room to breathe

And these cowboys all go crazy in the heat Chasing the lights in all the girls along the Santa Ana streets they're just dying to meet It meant nothing to me

You know the summer always brought it, that wild and reckless breeze And in the backseat we just tried to find some room for our knees