Last Out, First In

[Intro]
[Soft acoustic pick pattern
Distant pad swells in and out]
[Verse 1]
Coffee in a paper cup
Name tag on a faded shirt
Radio’s already buzzing
Before the sun can touch the dirt
Kisses kids on sleepy foreheads
Whispers
“I’ll be home by ten”
Doorway framed in kitchen light
Then it’s last out
First in
[Chorus]
Raise a glass to the ones who run
When every heartbeat’s sayin’ “don’t go”
To the fire
To the flood
To the dark unknown
Where the sirens write the stories we don’t wanna know
Every mile
Every night they spend
Trading their tomorrows for our breath again
If a hero has a face
It’s someone’s mother
Someone’s son
Last out of the fear
First in when the hurt comes
[Verse 2]
She’s standin’ on the shoulder
Of a rain-slick two-lane road
Hands that used to braid a doll’s hair
Now hold on and don’t let go
He’s counting every second
On a stranger’s broken chest
Wonderin’ if his little boy
Will ever know he gave his best
[Chorus]
Raise a glass to the ones who run
When every heartbeat’s sayin’ “don’t go”
To the fire
To the flood
To the dark unknown
Where the sirens write the stories we don’t wanna know
Every mile
Every night they spend
Trading their tomorrows for our breath again
If a hero has a face
It’s someone’s mother
Someone’s son
Last out of the fear
First in when the hurt comes
[Bridge]
We don’t see the shaking hands
When the headlines fade away
We just sleep a little deeper
Cause they stood there in our place
(oh) if courage has a cost
Their families pay it too
Empty chairs at kitchen tables
Held together by the truth
[Chorus]
So raise a glass to the ones who run
When every heartbeat’s sayin’ “don’t go”
To the fire
To the flood
To the dark unknown
Where the sirens write the stories we don’t wanna know
Every mile
Every night they spend
Trading their tomorrows for our breath again
If a hero has a face
It’s someone’s mother
Someone’s son
Last out of the fear
First in when the hurt comes
[Outro]
[Acoustic guitar slows to a gentle ring
Pad holds on the final chord]

folk, Slow emotional country ballad at 70 BPM, male vocals. Intimate fingerpicked acoustic guitar and soft ambient pad in the verses in a minor key, with subtle upright bass and brushed snare entering on the second verse. Chorus lifts into a warm major key with strummed guitars, pedal steel swells, and stacked harmonies for an anthemic feel. Bridge strips back to near-acapella over sparse guitar then returns to a full, soaring final chorus with a long vocal tail and gentle pad bloom., acoustic, emotional, country, soft, ambient, ballad, slow