What Were You Thinking
**What Were You Thinking**
*What Were You Thinking* is a hard-driving Texas blues rock boogie about watching someone make one bad decision after another — and finally refusing to pretend any of it makes sense.
The excuses have run out. Luck has been squandered, promises have been broken, and every warning sign seems to have been treated as an invitation to keep going. Now the narrator wants something much harder to give than another excuse: the truth.
With its repeated challenge of “What were you thinking?” and the incredulous answer-back of “Are you for real?”, the chorus turns the confrontation into a swaggering blues-rock exchange. But beneath the bite is experience rather than simple judgment. The narrator knows what foolish choices look like because he's worn that disguise himself.
Driven by a fast two-step shuffle, bottleneck slide guitar, overdriven tube amps, Hammond B3, baritone sax and walking upright bass, the track has the loose, bruised swagger of a 1970s band pushing hard together in a smoky live room.
*What Were You Thinking* is ultimately about the moment when excuses stop working. You can blame bad luck, bad roads and bad circumstances for only so long before somebody who knows you well enough finally looks you in the eye and asks the question you've been avoiding:
What were you thinking?
Music video
Lyrics
I seen your boots by the door
Still caked with your old excuses
You rolled the dice on a busted hand
And smiled like that makes it righteous
You threw your name in the fire
For a deal that ain’t worth a dime
Now you ask me for a clean escape
Like the smoke don’t know your crime
What were you thinking
When the wheels came off?
Tell me now, tell me now
Did you ever stop?
What were you thinking
(what were you thinking)
Are you for real
(are you for real)
Are you sure
Are you sure
Come on, come on
Say how you feel
You borrowed luck from a broken church
Then spent it in the rain
You kept one foot in the quicksand
And blamed the ground for your pain
I watched you chase every dead-end
Like it owed you a better name
Now you want me to bless that mess
And call that reckless thing sane
What were you thinking
When the lights went red?
Tell me now, tell me now
Was there nothing left?
What were you thinking
(what were you thinking)
Are you for real
(are you for real)
Are you sure
Are you sure
Come on, come on
Say how you feel
If I sound cold, it’s only truth
I’ve worn that fool’s disguise
You can’t keep breaking all your vows
Then ask me why you’re tired
[Final Chorus]
What were you thinking
(what were you thinking)
Are you for real
(are you for real)
Are you sure
Are you sure
Come on, come on
Say how you feel
What were you thinking
(what were you thinking)
I need the truth
I need it now
