Verse 1)
There’s an old tin shed by the river bend
Where we swore we’d all grow old as friends
Cold beers lined up on the tailgate tray
Laughing like nothing could take us away
Now there’s names in my phone I still can’t erase
And ghosts in every familiar place
Some left breathing, some left in the ground
Either way they ain’t around
(Pre-Chorus)
And time keeps moving, don’t care who it leaves
But some nights the silence gets hard to breathe
(Chorus)
Yeah we lost good people way too young
Close mates, hard hearts, loud mouths, restless sons
Now the fire burns low where they used to stand
Still waiting to hear those voices again
And I’d give every dollar, every damn thing I own
Just to hear one more “you right, brother?” down the phone
’Cause the hardest part of getting older ain’t the years
It’s learning how to live with empty chairs
(Verse 2)
One got lost to the bottle and pain inside
One never came home from that late-night drive
One just drifted till we became strangers somehow
Funny how you miss the living now
I still hear ’em in the songs we played
In every scar and choice we made
They say grief fades, but I don’t know
Some wounds just learn to grow slow
(Pre-Chorus)
And every sunset hits different now
Like life’s trying to teach me something about love
(Chorus)
Yeah we lost good people way too young
Close mates, hard hearts, loud mouths, restless sons
Now the fire burns low where they used to stand
Still waiting to hear those voices again
And I’d give every dollar, every damn thing I own
Just to hear one more “you right, brother?” down the phone
’Cause the hardest part of getting older ain’t the years
It’s learning how to live with empty chairs
(Bridge)
So raise one high for the ones not here
For every memory drowned in tears
For the boys we thought would never leave
And the parts of us they took with them when they did
(Final Chorus)
Yeah we carry their names like tattoos on skin
Through every dark road and battle within
And even if the world keeps moving on
A mate like that is never really gone
So tonight I’ll sit beneath these stars
Talking to the heaven where you are
Still saving you a place, still wishing you were here
Staring at these empty chairs.