Ten-Four and Gone

[Verse 1]
Coffee gone cold on the dash
Half-cracked photo in the shade of the glass
Name on the license
Worn halfway white
Face in the mirror
No one’s right behind
Yellow lines blur
Years disappear
Mile after mile
You just kept it in gear
Nothing but talk on a tired CB
Nobody saying your name when you leave
[Chorus]
Ten-four
Good buddy
This is the last call sign
You gave up your whole life
To fade into the white line
Under a buzzing sky
In a nameless town
You lay your head where the engine drowns you out
Unheard and unseen when the breathing’s gone
Ten-four
Good buddy
Ten-four and gone
[Verse 2]
Logbook pages like a stack of old prayers
Folded and creased
Drifting somewhere
You missed first steps
Empty chairs at games
But the freight got there
They never knew your name
Rest stop wreath on a plastic chair
Wind tugs the ribbon like it knows you were there
One small stone where the grass grows thin
Just dates and a number
No story within
[Chorus]
Ten-four
Good buddy
This is the last call sign
You gave up your whole life
To fade into the white line
Under a buzzing sky
In a nameless town
You lay your head where the engine drowns you out
Unheard and unseen when the breathing’s gone
Ten-four
Good buddy
Ten-four and gone
[Bridge]
You weren’t a legend
You weren’t a song
Just a tired hand
Keeping wheels moving on
If anyone’s listening
Out past the storm
Let this lonely channel
Carry you home
[Chorus]
Ten-four
Good buddy
This is the last call sign
You gave up your whole life
For a payroll and a deadline
Under a buzzing sky
In a nameless town
You lay your head where the engine drowns you out
Underappreciated
Then you’re just… gone
Ten-four
Good buddy
Ten-four and gone

Sparse piano ballad with female vocals, intimate and close-mic’d. Low, distant pedal steel swells like a slow highway. Verses stay hushed and conversational; chorus opens with aching sustained notes and soft harmonies. Subtle choir pad blooms in the last chorus, then everything falls back to a single voice and piano on the final line, leaving a long, ringing tail.