Who doesn't know what I'm talking about?
Who's never left home, who's never struck out?
To find a dream and a life of their own
A place in the clouds, a foundation of stone

Many precede and many will follow
A young girl's dream no longer hollow
It takes the shape of a place out West
But what it holds for her, she hasn't yet guessed

She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the higher stakes

She traveled this road as a child
Wide eyed and grinning she never tired
But now she won't be coming back with the rest
If these are life's lessons, she'll take this test

She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the higher stakes
She knows the higher stakes

As her folks drive away her dad yells, "Check the oil"
Mom stares out the window and says, "I'm leaving my girl"
She said, "It didn't seem like I left long ago"
When she stood there and let her own folks know

She needed wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the higher stakes
She knows the higher stakes

She knows the higher stakes
She knows the higher stakes
She knows the higher stakes