It's about fifteen hundred miles to California,
They'll get there Friday if they leave tonight,
She sneaks out at three thirty in the morning,
Leaves a note so she won't see her daddy cry.

He cuts the engine when he coasts in the driveway,
She slides in and gives him one kiss for the road,
No friends and no family, no job out there waiting,
The whole town will call them crazy but they gotta go.

Cause when you're young and in love, yeah,
You might do some things that don't seem all that smart,
Cause there ain't no greater distance
Than the eighteen inches from your head to your heart, yeah.

They can barely make rent on a rundown apartment,
She's waiting tables and he's a valet,
They're behind on the bills and the car's barely running,
But he buys a ring with the tips that he's saved.

When you're young and in love, yeah,
You might do some things that don't seem all that smart,
Cause there ain't no greater distance
Than the eighteen inches from your head to your heart.

Last thing they need is another mouth to feed, but they want one,
They're just kids themselves but that's gonna change in nine more months,

She wakes him up at three thirty in the morning,
Ready or not their new life's gonna start,
Seven pounds and eighteen inches,
The doctor lays that new baby's head right on her heart.

When you're young and in love, yeah,
You might do some things that don't seem all that smart,
But thank God for those eighteen inches,
The distance it is from your head to your heart, yeah, yeah, yeah.