High school halftime, Friday night   Standing on the fifty yard line   Big old blue and gold tuba in my hand   I could see Katie Ann in the popcorn line   Couldn't see how to make her mine   I was always in the band      At eighteen I found a cheap guitar   Became Seeger and Willie in a Smokey bar   And bared my soul behind a rusty old Mic stand   I get her name and number on a second break   Watch someone dance my chance away   I was always in the band      Sometimes this dream demands more than I can give it   But even still I don't regret a single minute   Oh, to hear you laugh, to feel your pain   To see a thousand waving flames   It's just a part of me, that's who I am   I was always in the band      Met her backstage before a show   Las Vegas Rodeo   Three months later I asked her for her hand   We tied the knot on the 6th of June   Woulda had a honeymoon   But I was always in the band      Left Dallas on the way to Omaha   Round Topeka when I got the call   Baby's coming, honey, get here when you can   Yeah, I guess I shoulda turned that bus around   I'da let 30,000 people down   I was always in the band      Sometimes this dream demands more than I can give it   But even still I don't regret a single minute   Oh, to hear you laugh, to feel your pain   To see a thousand waving flames   It's just a part of me, thank God she understands   I was always in the band      I was always in the band