Lyrics

I Was Emo Before It Was Cool
(Southern Rock / Country Rock with humor, heartbreak, and swagger)

Back in high school, black tee shirt
Writing sad songs in the back of church
Everybody laughed when I wore all black
Now they’re dressing like me and calling it alt

I was crying in my pickup truck
Listening to heartbreak, whiskey, and luck
Girls said, Boy, you need to lighten up
Now sad boys everywhere blowing up

I was ahead of my time, baby can’t you see
Turns out all that misery made history

I was Emo before it was cool
Breaking my own damn heart after school
Writing love songs nobody understood
Now everybody’s sad in Hollywood

Yeah I was crying in a country song
Twenty years before TikTok came along
Black eyeliner would've looked pretty sweet too
I was Emo before it was cool

Now these kids got playlists full of pain
Posting broken hearts out in the rain
Back then we just drank cheap beer
And disappeared for half a year

I had journals filled with shattered dreams
Acoustic guitars and busted strings
Every ex-girl got a whole damn track
Some of ‘em still ain’t called me back

They call it vintage now, imagine that
I guess depression finally became a fad

I was Emo before it was cool
Long before the internet made heartbreak rule
Writing midnight poems in a neon room
Singing sad songs underneath the moon

Yeah I was smoking cigarettes alone
Trying not to drunk dial on the phone
Now every cowboy wanna act all blue
I was Emo before it was cool

Now the bars are full of boys in boots
Singing breakup songs and telling truths
And I just laugh and raise my glass
‘Cause buddy, I already lived through that

Yeah I was Emo before it was cool
Before sad became the golden rule
Before every small town boy got tattoos
And learned how heartbreak really moves

Yeah I wore black long before it sold
Turned lonely nights into country gold
Now everybody’s singing what I knew
I was Emo before it was cool

Yeah, I was crying way before it paid
And I’d do it all again