[Intro]
Rubber smoke in the morning heat
Black marks crawling down a dead-end street
Cole stood shaking by the open hood
With eyes like trouble and hands like wood

[Verse]
We nearly lost it on a gravel curve
Too much speed and too much nerve
The car spun hard, and the whole world screamed
Like the devil woke from a gasoline dream
Mara cursed, and Billy prayed
Cole just stared at the tire marks made
Then he said boys, I owe you truth
There’s blood on the bones of my wasted youth

[Pre-Chorus]
The wind went still
The engine ticked
Some old wound
Finally split

[Chorus]
It’s a Burnout Confession
Smoke in the air
A man can outrun a county line
But not what happened there
Burnout Confession
Truth burns black
Cole said I left my brothers behind
And now they’re coming back

[Verse]
He had a crew in the south side days
Five young fools with dangerous ways
They stole from trucks and fought for pride
Called it family till the family died
One bad night outside McGreevy’s bar
One broken bottle, one borrowed car
Cole swung first, then the crowd went wild
And a best friend fell like a frightened child

[Pre-Chorus]
He said I ran before the sirens came
Let another man carry half my blame
Now every engine behind our own
Sounds like judgment dressed in chrome

[Chorus]
It’s a Burnout Confession
Smoke in the air
A man can outrun a county line
But not what happened there
Burnout Confession
Truth burns black
Cole said I left my brothers behind
And now they’re coming back

[Instrumental]
Guitars grind like chains on stone
Slide cries hard through a danger zone
Drums pound down like a guilty heart
Bassline tearing the road apart

[Bridge]
Mara said you should have told us before
Billy said we’re already at war
I said brother, there’s no holy plan
But you stand today like a better man
Cole looked west where the heat waves rolled
Said I was young, I was drunk, I was cold
And freedom ain’t freedom if it’s built on flight
From a friend you left bleeding in the barroom light

[Breakdown]
Black smoke
White line
Old blood
New sign
No lie
No mask
How long can a shadow last

[Build-up]
Hear that rumble behind the hill
Maybe ghosts, maybe steel
Load the truth and turn the key
There’s no more running secretly

[Chorus]
It’s a Burnout Confession
Smoke in the air
A man can outrun a county line
But not what happened there
Burnout Confession
Truth burns black
Cole said I left my brothers behind
And now they’re coming back

[Chorus]
Burnout Confession
Let the black marks show
Every road remembers you
No matter where you go
Burnout Confession
Tires scream and crack
We left the lie in the dust that day
But the past was on our track

[Outro]
Rubber smoke and a silent sky
Cole wiped dust from his guilty eyes
We climbed back in with nothing clear
Except the sound of engines drawing near