[Intro]
(Coffee pouring… cigarette lighter flicks… soft upright bass begins)
Mmm…
3 AM in New Orleans…
Coffee cold…
Heart colder…
Yeah…
⸻
[Verse 1]
Black coffee and cigarettes keeping me alive
Sitting in this diner watching midnight pass by
Waitress got tired eyes and a tired smile too
Guess everybody here got something they running through
Rainwater dripping off the neon signs
While old blues records play soft in my mind
I been staring at your number on my phone all night
Trying not to lose another fight
⸻
[Pre-Chorus]
Smoke rising slow toward the ceiling fan
Like prayers nobody understand
And every sip of bitter coffee taste
Like memories I can’t erase
⸻
[Chorus]
Black coffee and cigarettes tonight
Keeping company with these neon lights
Every drag pull deeper pain
Every cup still speak your name
Lord this city never really sleep
Too many broken souls like me
Black coffee and cigarettes…
And another lonely blues song again
⸻
[Verse 2]
Old man sitting at the counter humming low
Said “boy heartbreak come and heartbreak go”
Then he lit his smoke and looked me in the eye
Like he seen every tear I tried to hide
Outside the Quarter still alive somehow
But inside me everything breaking down
Heard your laugh inside my memory again
Lord I almost called you then
⸻
[Pre-Chorus]
Piano crying soft through the speakers low
Like it know things I don’t show
And every lonely midnight tune
Make this empty room feel doomed
⸻
[Chorus]
Black coffee and cigarettes tonight
Keeping company with these neon lights
Every drag pull deeper pain
Every cup still speak your name
Lord this city never really sleep
Too many broken souls like me
Black coffee and cigarettes…
And another lonely blues song again
⸻
[Bridge]
Maybe healing ain’t loud…
Maybe it happen quietly…
In empty diners…
Cigarette smoke…
And old blues records at 3 AM…
Maybe surviving is enough sometimes…
⸻
[Instrumental Break]
(Smooth blues guitar solo with smoky saxophone and warm jazz piano)
⸻
[Final Chorus]
Black coffee and cigarettes tonight
Watching rain fall past the traffic lights
Every memory still cut so deep
But somehow I still find peace
Cause every bluesman eventually learn
Some flames forever burn
Black coffee and cigarettes…
Keeping this old soul warm tonight
⸻
[Outro]
(Coffee cup sets down softly… rain fading outside)
Yeah…
Some nights you don’t need answers…
Just music…
And something warm in your hands…
Mmm…
ChuckStarrMusic504
