Lyrics:

“‘Burning Out'” is about vanity and conformity and how those pursuits are short lived and inevitably unfulfilling.”
-Joey Cape
Anyone can be the one that you want
You only have to see it through until you feel indifference
Take a wife, a child, a family name
File them under Johnson, Doe, Smith, or Boring
Still condos in simple town to settle down

On a wing and a smile, you go out in style
You're going out in style
As long as you look the part above your empty heart
You're not as you appear, they're not as they

Appearances are made on Saturdays
Lessons come from gunfights, late nights and courtesies
Anyone can define where you are
Choking on elixirs, mixers and caviar
But I'm not getting through to you in a song

On a wing and a smile, you go out in style
You're going out in style
As long as you look the part above your weary heart
It's not as it appears, you're not as you appear

But I'm not getting through to you in a song

On your way up the hill, I thought you wouldn't fail
I thought you couldn't fail
They look good from afar in that shiny car
They're not as they appear, it's not as it appears

Hanging out in tribes
And superstitions we subscribe
Bad habits in denial
Good times

So bright, so bright, so bright, so bright
Now you're burning out in style
So bright, so bright, so bright, so bright
Now you're burning out in style
So bright, so bright, so bright, so bright