17

before everything went wrong
back when we still got along
swallowed by my selfish pride
i looked you in the eye and lied

we were on the same damn page
clenched our hands in fists of rage
ties we said we'd never sever
we swore we would die together

back when i was 17
so long ago, or so it seems
we blew town and sold our souls
in the name of rock n roll

i can keep believing
and you can be deceiving
you know that you're dying when
you concentrate on might have been

halfway to forever
starting off at never
hand-me-downs forget-me-nots
you woke up in a cardboard box

and who was there to save you
when everybody hated you
who cared to defend you
with everyone against you

do you believe in fate?
or everything you're told?
do you believe in hate?
do you believe in rock n roll?

now i ride the train
sometimes i miss the drive
i think about those days
when were were so alive
i knew it from the start
and when i search my soul
deep inside my heart
still belongs to rock n roll

what happened to our hopes?
what happened to our dreams?
we can't go back in time
we can't go back to 17
NNMaddox: "'17' is about reflecting back to a time and state of mind you can never fully revisit. It's partially about a high school friend, partially about my sister, and some of it is completely fictitious. I wrote this song when I was in a really bad state. I think, for the most part, one can classify this as a 'sad song.'

I've toyed many times with the idea of re-recording this one, or adding another vocal track. But I think it captures what I was feeling at the time, and I didn't want to ruin that."