I never felt truly alive until the first time I met you
I was 15, at a time when sports, school, and my first car should have clogged my mind
Kids in school wrote poems, complained about parents, and how they couldn't get drunk
I spent nights in back alleys, and bars giving my best friends black eyes

I met you from a cracked rib and a broken nose
I tried to wipe the blood from my face, as you laughed and helped me up
"Johnny, Johnny, when we get cut we let it bleed."

Like all those other kids I wanted to **** myself
You taught me not to die without a few scars
"Do not waste those unscarred knuckles"
So that's what I did, I followed your ****** footprints
Walked in your dark path, you made me stronger for it

And yet through all those fights, all that inflicted pain
I smiled because of you, I walked forward because you did too
Man, you were the brother I never had
The Savior to my stupid un-tempered self
I spent three years as your equal, as your friend
I left for a new state, taking all you taught me
A new man, raised by you
And then you left,
Late that night, I sat in a classroom
You did what we know is best and stayed in those places
You always had my back, and I would always have yours
But I was gone
I would have seen that man
I would have killed him had I known...

Had I only known,
Had I seen that last punch, had I only caught that last kick
Id be the one laying out on the cold concrete
You'd be the one living free
You wouldn't regret your life, and I wont let myself regret mine
No one ever really knew our minds
The men that actually lurked behind our faded eyes
And now no one will ever know you

"Get up Johnny, Johnny"
"No one can keep you down forever"