Blanket of Freedom

[Verse 1]
[Male]
Coffee in a paper cup
Sea bag on the floor by my feet
Kissed your tears at the pier
Then disappeared into the deep
No fireworks for New Year’s
Just red lights and steel
Counting days on a calendar
Bolted to a bulkhead wall of gray and peel
[Verse 2]
[Female]
There’s a jersey on the back of your chair
At a game you were dying to see
Your boy’s at bat in your number
Says he’s swinging this one for Daddy
Your girl made you a birthday card
Big stars in crayon blue
I tuck them in, say your bedtime prayer
“Lord, bring him home real soon”
[Chorus]
[Both]
You’re out there weaving the blanket of freedom
Thread by thread in the dark, out of view
Fighting through the quiet
So the noise stays far from our roof
We miss every holiday table
Empty chair where you used to be
But this little house, this restless heart
Is the reason you go to sea
Yeah, you’re weaving the blanket of freedom
Till it wraps back around you and me
[Verse 3]
[Male]
No windows, just numbers and charts
Same four jokes down the same tight hall
We don’t talk about fear out loud
Just faces in folded notes from home on the wall
We raise our cups in the mess
For the ones who won’t walk off this boat
There’s a toast that hangs in the air
Like a name we’re scared to quote
[Bridge]
[Female]
I set one more plate at Christmas (hey)
Even though you’re under the waves
[Male]
I trace little hands on my letters
So they know I’m still finding my way
[Both]
There are names carved deep in our memories
Who gave every breath they could give
We hold our babies a little bit closer
’Cause of all that they did
[Chorus]
[Both]
You’re out there weaving the blanket of freedom
Thread by thread in the dark, out of view
Fighting through the quiet
So the noise stays far from our roof
We miss every birthday candle
Every school-night “read to me”
But this little house, this restless heart
Is the reason you go to sea
Yeah, you’re weaving the blanket of freedom
Till it wraps back around you and me
[Outro]
[Female]
Pull in safe, walk down that pier
[Male]
Drop that sea bag, fall to your knees
[Both]
Under one flag on the front porch
That blanket of freedom
Covers our family

country, Modern country ballad with male/female duet vocals, gentle picked acoustic and warm pad under the verses, steel guitar and mandolin coloring the choruses. Mid-tempo brushy drums that lift into a steady backbeat, bass gluing everything down. Big, emotional final chorus with stacked harmonies, a brief fiddle line answering the vocal, and a soft acoustic tag to close., female vocals