Gold Bucks (Innocent)

Lyrics

[Intro]
Humid Atlanta night.
Piedmont Road, nineteen ninety-five.
You can smell the money and the gardenias fighting it out.

[Verse 1]
Kevin’s getting married Saturday.
We're all here, shiny shoes and bad ties.
At the door, you don’t use cash.
That ain't the way.
You hand the man your card, he runs it through the machine.
Little paper spits out.
You sign your name like you're buying milk and bread.
He hands you back a stack of… well, not dollars.

[Chorus]
Gold Bucks.
That’s what they called ‘em.
Little slips of promise with a logo on ‘em.
Swiped a Visa for a fantasy.
And it felt innocent, you see.
Just boys being boys in Buckhead, playing make-believe.
Before we knew the name Steve Kaplan.
Before we had a reason not to believe.

[Verse 2]
Inside, it’s all velvet and cologne.
Dim lights making everyone look a little less alone.
Kevin’s blushing, we’re slapping his back.
Folding those little papers, tucking them in the sash.
A buck for a smile, five for a dance.
Felt like you owned the damn place, given half a chance.
Just a game.
A harmless game with fake money.
Funny.

[Chorus]
Gold Bucks.
That’s what they called ‘em.
Little slips of promise with a logo on ‘em.
Swiped a Mastercard for a memory.
And it felt innocent, you see.
Just boys being boys in Buckhead, playing make-believe.
Before we knew the name Steve Kaplan.
Before we had a reason not to believe.

[Bridge]
Funny what a few years does.
That same club on the six o’clock news.
Federal agents carrying boxes out the front door.
Saw Patrick Ewing had to testify and you wonder what for.
Suddenly the name on the indictment… yeah, that was him.
And the whole innocent night looks different.
Looks grim.
That credit card slip wasn't for a fantasy.
It was for a front-row seat to the rot.

[Outro]
I still remember the feel of ‘em.
Thinner than a dollar bill.
The cheap gold ink on my thumb.
We bought the story, every last one.
Nineteen ninety-five.
Yeah.
We were all innocent then.
Weren’t we?