'28' by Zach Bryan – Lyrics & Meaning

Zach Bryan's The Great American Bar Scene has felt like a long time coming, seeing as fans have already gotten to spend time with many of its unreleased songs. Between sharing a handful of the album's offerings online or teasing them onstage throughout his massive Quittin' Time tour, the hitmaker certainly hasn't been stingy with new music.

By the time The Great American Bar Scene finally has its moment on Thursday (July 4), many of its tracks will feel like old friends to Bryan's die hard fanbase. Among these already well-worn companions is '28', a piano-powered ballad Bryan shared on Youtube early this spring that he's since given the Quittin' Time treatment while out on the road.

While forever king of the slow-burner, Bryan delivers this one with a conviction that could only come from living such a song, making '28' the perfect addition to an album about beginnings and ends, all in the great American bar scene.

One of the more melancholy sounding tracks on The Great American Bar Scene, '28' opens with a trickle of soft guitar strums, sounding gentle yet rich against the emptiness. A swell of violin soon joins in to punctuate the guitar's flourishes.

Scant keys and strings sustain against Bryan's emotive words. The tune only truly varies in tempo with the chorus – when emotion bubbles over, dark keys brighten to ring clear and complex.

It all makes for a succinct soundtrack to the tale that unfolds across the tune's few minutes.

"You took a train to the south side of Boston
You showed me where your old man stayed
Took 28 years of blood I was lost in
To feel loved on my own birthday
I always felt like I’s in between something
Like home and somewhere far away
But tonight on the west side in a bar out in Brooklyn
I saw tears outline your face"

'28' seems singular to Bryan and his experiences, with feelings we all can relate to on the track.

The artist opens the tune describing a memory that took place on the south side of Boston, Massachusetts, a place his now-girlfriend Brianna Lapaglia is from. While '28' hasn't been confirmed to be about his significant other, it's not an outlandish conclusion to draw as the opening lines seem to examine a situation between two lovers.

In the first verse, they're sharing a personal moment together when the narrator reveals that he's always felt stuck between "home and somewhere far away" and that it's taken his entire 28 years to feel loved on his own birthday. However, he can finally see how far he's come and how much has changed since they met, singing:

"How lucky are we?
It’s been a hell of a week, but we’re all grown now,
There’s smoke seeping out, of your bloody teeth,
But you’re home somehow,"

He's found a sense of belonging in their love and feels fortunate for having discovered a "home" both physically and emotionally. Despite past struggles and shortcomings, he seems to recognize the growth that has taken place within in himself and also all around.

"I’ll be upstairs with the guitar I’s given
When I was barely fourteen
When did McGlinchey’s get so damn crowded
And why are the crowds so damn green?
I lost my mind on the streets of the city
Maybe I lost all hope too
Took 28 years of blood pumping through me
To get to this evening with you"

Suddenly, he looks around and his favorite bar has become crowded, full of young folks he doesn't recognize, so he's resolved to just stay at home with his old guitar. McGlinchey's is a much-loved bar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which was selected as one of the dives that would be premiering The Great American Bar Scene.

He's spent so many nights feeling lost in the city's streets, and now, finds comfort in spending the evening with the one he's waited 28 years for, singing:

How lucky are we?
It’s been a hell of a week, but we’re all grown now
There’s smoke seeping out of the bar down the street
But we’re home somehow"

Taking to X (formerly Twitter) after the album's release, Zach Bryan revealed ‘28’ was actually inspired by the immense feeling of gratitude he felt when his dog, Boston, survived surgery. He shared, “Boston our puppy was going into surgery and I told Brianna “how lucky are we?” to have -had- a puppy so beautiful and she came out of it just fine, I wrote it the next day because I felt like the luckiest man on the planet”.

When sharing the preface to The Great American Bar Scene, the artist delved into how his upcoming record came to be. He wrote: “The making of this album tested me and everyone close to me. It drove me to my ends and my beginnings. I saw the lights of Paris after saying I would for ten years, rode the coast of Australia with a beautiful woman, was locked in a pub until 7am in Ireland, walked my favorite street in New York over a hundred times, thought I was going to bleed out in a field in Tennessee, spent a few hours in handcuffs, hugged my grandma more than a few times, layed in the grass of my mother's hometown, sang ‘State Trooper’ in a bar South of Boston and wrote something that I think was important. I wrote and produced all of these with the help of some truly great friends. I finally felt like I's making music again. If you don't like it I assume it's not intended for you. Grab your beers through tears and fears, ‘the Great American Bar Scene’”.

You took a train to the south side of Boston
You showed me where your old man stayed
Took 28 years of blood I was lost in
To feel loved on my own birthday

And I always felt like I’s in between something
Like home and somewhere far away
But tonight on the west side in a bar out in Brooklyn
I saw tears outline your face

How lucky are we?
It’s been a hell of a week, but we’re all grown now
There’s smoke seeping out, of your bloody teeth
But you’re home somehow

I’ll be upstairs with the guitar I’s given
When I was barely fourteen
When did McGlinchey’s get so crowded
And why are the crowds so damn green?
I lost my mind on the streets of the city
Maybe I lost all hope too
Took 28 years of blood pumping through me
To get to this evening with you

How lucky are we?
It’s been a hell of a week, but we’re all grown now
There’s smoke seeping out of the bar down the street
But we’re home somehow

How lucky are we?
It’s been a hell of a week, but we’re all grown now
There’s smoke seeping out of the bar down the street
But we’re home somehow

You took a train to the south side of Boston
You showed me where your whole heart stayed
Took 28 years of blood pumping through me
To feel loved on my own birthday

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