A LONG ROAD FROM FULL TO EMPTY (Cover)

(Verse 1) I was born in a chorus, a loud happy crowd Where love was the weather and laughter was loud I spent my whole life runnin’ up the score Collecting new friends like shells on the shore From the service industry to the late-night bars I was counting up souls like I was counting the stars I thought if I loved 'em, I’d never be alone But the math don't work out when you’re on your own. (Chorus) Now I’m relationally rich, but I’m poor in the flesh Caught in the middle of this digital mesh I got wires that whisper, I got screens that glow But nobody’s footsteps in the gravel below Yeah, the phone’s full of ghosts who say they care But you can’t hug a memory that ain’t really there. (Verse 2) They say love is a credit, but loss is the tax And my heart’s got a million hairline cracks From the slow fade-aways and the folks who moved on To the family I buried, one by one Now it’s me and the dog and a feral cat crew Creatures who stay cause I feed 'em, it’s true They don't ask for nothing that I cannot give It’s a quiet damn way for a man to live. (Bridge) I built me a safety net, wide as the sea Wove it from people who mattered to me But I’m the one weaving, so I sit on the side While the net floats away on the evening tide It was a beautiful failure, this plan that I had To outrun the silence by just being glad. (Guitar Solo - Simple, sad picking) (Verse 3) I ain't cynical, friend, I’m just tired of the math Of walking this long and subtractive path "Subjunctive mood"—that’s a fancy word For a song that is written but never is heard It means "would be" and "could be" and "wish you were here" But the distance is constant, and the ending is clear. (Outro) The experiment’s over. The data is in. I proved that I loved by the shape of my skin. I’m a stain on the wood where the water ran dry. Just me and the wires... and the big empty sky. (Spoken) Yeah... just the arithmetic. (Final chord rings out)