A Little More Whiskey, A Little Less You

A LITTLE MORE WHISKEY, A LITTLE LESS YOU RUBY NOIRE [INTRO — 76 BPM • 1960s SMOKY JAZZ NOIR • SUBTLE COUNTRY-SOUL UNDERCURRENT] [Six-bar instrumental opening] [Deep upright bass • brushed snare • dark Wurlitzer chords] [Muted trumpet plays a lonely descending blues melody] [Soft pedal steel answers with a mournful slide] [Warm analogue ambience • intimate late-night lounge] [VERSE 1 — SOLO FEMALE SMOKY ALTO • LOW SULTRY MELODIC JAZZ SINGING • LAZY BEHIND-THE-BEAT PHRASING] There’s a table in the corner, where the lamplight barely falls. And a bartender who knows me, though we hardly speak at all. He sets the whiskey down beside me, doesn’t ask about my day. I turn the glass between my fingers, watch the smoke drift away. [Muted trumpet answers with a descending three-note phrase] [Two-bar instrumental pause] [VERSE 2 — INTIMATE JAZZ-SOUL • GENTLE BLUE-NOTE BENDS] I still wear that little necklace, the one you gave me in July. I tell myself it’s just a keepsake, but I know that’s just a lie. And when the band begins our favourite, I pretend I haven’t heard. But I can feel your hand upon me, before they’ve sung a word. [Soft pedal steel slide • Wurlitzer holds a minor-ninth chord] [Two-beat silence] [CHORUS — RICH SULTRY JAZZ ALTO • SMOOTH LEGATO • EMOTIONAL MELODIC LIFT] A little more whiskey, a little less you. That’s what I keep telling myself when the night comes creeping through. Let the trumpet do the crying, let the bourbon see me through. But the more I try to lose you, the more I find of you. [FOUR-BAR INSTRUMENTAL INTERLUDE] [Muted trumpet plays an aching blues phrase] [Pedal steel answers with a restrained country bend] [Brushed snare and upright bass maintain a lazy swing] [VERSE 3 — SOFT, WARM, WEARY • INTIMATE STORYTELLING] There’s a couple by the window, she’s laughing at something he said. He reaches over, brushes back her hair, and I turn my eyes instead. You used to touch me just like that, like there was nowhere else to be. Now I’m sitting with a stranger’s song, and a glass for company. [Two-bar tenor sax response] [Soft piano turnaround] [BRIDGE — STRIPPED BACK • CLOSE-MIC FEMALE ALTO • SOFTLY SUNG CONFESSION] [Drums fall silent • sparse piano and upright bass] The bartender says, “Last call, honey.” I ask him for one more. He glances at the empty chair I’ve been watching all night long. [Three-beat silence] [Single mournful pedal steel slide] I tell him I was waiting… though I know you’re not coming. [Muted trumpet enters softly] [FINAL CHORUS — DEEP EMOTIONAL JAZZ-SOUL • RESTRAINED CRESCENDO • NEVER BELTED] A little more whiskey, a little less you. One more lonely midnight I’m trying to get through. Let the trumpet do the crying, let the old band play us through. ’Cause the more I try to lose you, the more I find of you. [OUTRO — INTIMATE • SLOW INSTRUMENTAL RESOLUTION] [Muted trumpet reprises the opening melody] [Pedal steel gently answers] [Brushed drums fade • upright bass continues] [SOLO FEMALE ALTO • LOW, TENDER, CLEARLY SUNG] I came in here to lose you… [Two-bar instrumental pause] But I found you… in every song they played. [Final muted trumpet sigh] [Wurlitzer resolves softly • fade to silence]