Just another summer Saturday
About nineteen eighty-one
We were fishing in the little tank*
Having some good clean fun
Yeah me and Tim had no thoughts
No worries for the time
Except for those big snapping turtles
We hoped stayed off our lines
Back on the farm before the dark
I still had chores to do
There was a movie I wanted to see
Tim wanted to see it too
Thought we'd stop about 5:30
So I'd have time to tend the livestock
Take a shower, have some supper
Before the movie at seven o'clock
And we both looked at our watches
And it was 5:30...on the dot
Should have taken only 15 minutes
To drive back to the gate
I had driven that little trail so many times
Saw no reason to be late
Through the forest on that winding path
Past the leaning live oak tree
That I told you about in another song
When it was just the wind and me
Came out from the forest
And pulled up to the gate
I got out to open it
Tim said, "Looks like it's getting late?"
"Why's the sun setting down so low?
It ain't even six o'clock!"
And with confusion on his face, he said,
"Alan, better check your watch."
He said, "Where did the time go?
Where did the time go?
It's way too late, now we're at the gate
I know you didn't drive that slow
I shook my head, said I didn't know
Where did the time go
We hadn't stopped anywhere
Hadn't taken no detour
I had taken that same road through the brush
Just like many times before
Feeling his confusion,
There was nothing I could do but laugh
That fifteen-minute drive had taken
An hour and a half
By the time I walked into the house
It was seven twenty-nine
My dad just looked at me said,
"Guess you lost track of time"
And I said...yeah, I guess I did
Time went by and me and Tim
Went our separate ways
Many years had passed us by
When I bumped into him one day
First thing he said was, "Remember that time
When we lost that time, it seemed?"
I said, "Yeah," and he said, "Thank God,
I thought maybe it was just a dream"
He said, "Where did the time go?
Where did the time go?
It was way too late when we got to the gate
I know you didn't drive that slow"
I shook my head, said I still didn't know
Where did the time go
Where did the time go
Maybe there's some things in this world
It's better that we don't know
Like where did the time go
*tank is Texan for "pond"