A grieving father who lost his teenage daughter years ago has spent his remaining days quietly building a village — Greyhound clerks, drivers, strangers in parks — to bring other runaways home. The boy in this song never fully understands what saved him until he's standing at a graveside.

Lyrics

I climbed aboard the Greyhound bus, the driver had saved me a seat
An eight hour ride ’til I’ll be home and I can finally get some sleep
I miss that crazy mutt most of all
Bet no one’s even washed him since I took off last fall
Another stupid fight with Aunt Cathy and I was out the door
I’ve run away for a few days but never left this long before
I’d seen that old man in the park where I was trying to get some sleep
He watched me from a distance, I’m thinking, “Just another creep.”
Then he wandered over with a soda and a bag of chips
He sat down beside me and he told me about his kid
Then I followed him to the depot, he gave me a ticket and some cash
As he was talking to the driver, the clerk said, “I hope you thanked Mr. Ashe.”
It takes a village to save a life
My driver’s seat has a busted spring or two
I’m hoping to retire sometime soon
I’ve had enough of traveling up and down this road
I been driving since a man walked on the moon
It seems worth it though when I take a runaway home
Old Mr. Ashe, he found this one before the kid was down to skin and bone
I promised him I’d do my best to make sure he sat up front
And that I’d watch him at the rest stops to make sure he didn’t jump
It takes a village to save a life
Aunt Cathy drove me to the cemetery that blustery winter day
Greyhound clerks and drivers stood around the fresh dug grave
“Here lies Daniel Ashe. He saved a lot of dreams.”
To his left his daughter, Jenny, she was buried at age fifteen
As the casket lowered a voice said, “He had class.
And we could use a lot more people like Mr. Ashe.”
It takes a village to save a life
We watched my clerk and driver throw some dirt into the grave
Aunt Cathy thanked them both again and then we drove away
I’ll be graduating come this spring
I’m going to college in the fall
After school been helping at the nursing home
‘Cause I know what it feels like to be out there all alone
It takes a village to save a life
It takes a village