Picture of My Dress

Picture of My Dress
Album	Getting Into Knives
Released	October 23, 2020
Length	4:20
Previous Track	"Get Famous"
Next Track	"As Many Candles As Possible"

Picture of My Dress is the third song on Getting Into Knives. It also appears as the fifth song on the 2021 live album The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volumes 3 and 4.

Lyrics

Here at a truck stop in New Mexico 
Just before dawn
Somebody's grandma behind the wheel of a big rig
Pulling in with her headlights on
We smoke a cigarette as the sunrise runs riot
Someone's got to break the quiet

And she says: "What are you doing here, anyway?"
And I smile and say: "You'd never guess"
She holds it up for me by its skinny white shoulder-straps
While I take a picture of my dress
I take a picture of my dress

I'm in the bathroom of a Dallas, Texas Burger King
And Mr. Steven Tyler is on the overhead speaker
He doesn't want to miss a thing
Out there at the counter
Blending in with the lunchtime crowd
Trying not to laugh out loud

I eat half my Crispy Chicken Club
I get extra mayonnaise, it's a mess
I take the other half back to the parking lot with me
Pop the trunk, and take a picture of my dress
I take a picture of my dress

It still looks good
I only wore it once
Nine years ago
Nine years, and seven months

It may be a long while 
Before the highway decides to finally set me free
I'm gonna have to chase down the remnants 
Of something special that you stole from me

It may be hiding in the sunset
Or in distant corners of the dawn
Or maybe it's gone

But I say some prayers above the engine
I bless everything there is to bless
Run out of gas in the middle of nowhere anyway
Stand there by the roadside, smiling
And take a picture of my dress
I take a picture of my dress
I take a picture of my dress

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• Before playing this song at 2019-09-28 - City Winery - Philadelphia, PA, John read the Maggie Smith poem "Good Bones" out loud. John said that he had trouble getting through the poem without crying. He then explained that this song was inspired by Maggie Smith's Tweet, "Divorced woman drives her rumpled c. 2005 wedding dress across the country and takes photos of it in various locations." John replied, "this would be a song called 'Picture of My Dress' imo." He said on stage at City Winery that the song was written by noon the day of that tweet. [1][2]

Things Referenced in this Song

• Steven Tyler singing "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
• Maggie Smith’s 2018 tweet

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

• 2019-09-28 - City Winery - Philadelphia, PA
• 2021-01-27 - WFUV Session - Marquee Live at Home
• 2021-03-31 - Get Lit with All of It - Virtual
• 2021-04-18 - The Jordan Lake Sessions - Pittsboro, NC
• 2021-08-07 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA
• 2021-08-10 - The Mohawk - Austin, TX
• 2021-08-15 - Meow Wolf - Santa Fe, NM
• 2021-08-23 - Pabst Theater - Milwaukee, WI
• 2021-08-27 - The Athenaeum Theatre - Columbus, OH
• 2021-09-07 - City Winery - New York, NY
• 2021-09-16 - Kessler Theater - Dallas, TX
• 2021-09-17 - Tower Theatre - Oklahoma City, OK
• 2022-05-18 - Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL
• 2022-07-15 - Off Broadway - St. Louis, MO
• 2022-12-05 - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR
• 2023-08-05 - Citizens House of Blues - Boston, MA
• 2024-05-25 - Albert Hall - Manchester, England

Videos of this Song

• 2021-03-31 - Get Lit with All of It - Virtual
• The Durham Sessions
• The Jordan Lake Sessions