[INTRO - INSTRUMENTAL ONLY] [2 bars: acoustic guitar, piano, faint pedal steel] [NO VOCALS] [VERSE 1 - MALE ONLY] [VOCAL: close-mic baritone, low-medium register, 25% rasp, 35% volume, gentle smile in the tone; sing like he is quietly imagining someone he has not met yet] [MALE] Sometimes I catch myself wondering [MALE] Who I haven't met just yet. [MALE] What she'll laugh at over dinner, [MALE] What I'll never quite forget. [MALE] Maybe I'll show up with wildflowers, [MALE] Just because it's Tuesday night. [MALE] Learn the coffee that she orders, [MALE] Learn what makes her whole face light. [MALE] I wanna ask about her stories, [MALE] And remember every one. [MALE] Make her feel like being chosen [MALE] Doesn't end when courting's done. [HANDOFF - 1 BAR PIANO, NO OVERLAP] [VERSE 2 - FEMALE ONLY] [VOCAL: clear alto/mezzo, medium register, 35% volume, soft breathiness, playful warmth; enter like the imagined future suddenly answers him] [FEMALE] Maybe I'll steal your old sweatshirt, [FEMALE] Leave my shoes beside your door. [FEMALE] Laugh when every simple errand [FEMALE] Somehow takes an hour more. [FEMALE] Maybe I'll learn all your bad jokes, [FEMALE] Know which ones are coming next. [FEMALE] And still smile before the punchline [FEMALE] Just because I love the rest. [HANDOFF - HALF BAR SILENCE] [CHORUS 1 - MALE ONLY] [VOCAL: fuller chest voice, 45% rasp, 65% volume, open and hopeful; lift the melody on “memories” and sustain “grow old”; NO FEMALE HARMONY] [MALE] Here's to memories we haven't made yet, [MALE] Roads we haven't driven down. [MALE] Kitchen dances after midnight, [MALE] Getting lost in some new town. [MALE] Pictures we haven't taken, [MALE] Stories we haven't told. [MALE] Here's to falling for each other [MALE] Till we're lucky enough to grow old. [TURNAROUND - FIDDLE, MANDOLIN, PEDAL STEEL] [NO VOCALS] [VERSE 3 - MALE ONLY] [VOCAL: return to 40% volume, intimate and confident, light rasp; affectionate and sincere, never grand or theatrical] [MALE] I wanna know when she needs silence, [MALE] And when she needs me close. [MALE] Celebrate the things she's proud of, [MALE] Be the first one there to toast. [MALE] Bring her soup when she gets sick, [MALE] Sit beside her through the rain. [MALE] Never make her beg for kindness, [MALE] Never turn her hurt to shame. [MALE] Take the long way home together, [MALE] Turn the radio up loud. [MALE] Be the man beside her cheering [MALE] When she finally makes herself proud. [HANDOFF - 1 BAR INSTRUMENTAL] [VERSE 4 - FEMALE ONLY] [VOCAL: warmer now, 50% volume, affectionate, secure, slight smile audible in the phrasing; NO MALE BACKING] [FEMALE] Then I'll bring you coffee Sunday, [FEMALE] Read beside you when it rains. [FEMALE] Know which dreams still make you nervous, [FEMALE] Help you try for them again. [FEMALE] We'll make birthdays out of nothing, [FEMALE] Find adventures close to home. [FEMALE] Build a thousand little reasons [FEMALE] Neither one feels all alone. [BRIDGE - ALTERNATING SOLO LINES] [NO OVERLAP, NO SHARED WORDS] [ARRANGEMENT: acoustic guitar, piano, soft strings] [MALE VOCAL: tender, 35% volume, amused, warm] [MALE] Maybe someday we'll be sixty, [MALE] Still arguing whose turn to drive. [FEMALE VOCAL: playful, 40% volume, teasing] [FEMALE] You'll still swear you know a shortcut. [FEMALE] I'll still prove you wrong each time. [FEMALE VOCAL: soften to 30%, nostalgic and dreamy] [FEMALE] Maybe photographs will cover [FEMALE] Every wall from floor to frame. [MALE VOCAL: warm emotional lift, 50% volume] [MALE] And every face will hold a story [MALE] Of the life we got to make. [BUILD - INSTRUMENTAL ONLY] [Strings rise gently, drums open, pedal steel swell] [NO VOCALS] [FINAL CHORUS - ALTERNATING SOLO BLOCKS] [NO UNISON, NO CROSS-GENDER HARMONY] [MALE VOCAL: strongest male performance, 75% volume, warm chest resonance, 35% rasp, joyful emotion without shouting] [MALE] Here's to memories we haven't made yet, [MALE] Roads we haven't driven down. [MALE] First hellos and anniversaries, [MALE] Making anywhere our town. [FEMALE VOCAL: brightest female performance, 65% volume, open, tender and completely sincere] [FEMALE] Here's to mornings still unwritten, [FEMALE] Years that haven't had their turn. [FEMALE] To a love that keeps on choosing, [FEMALE] And a lifetime left to learn. [MALE VOCAL: soften to 55%, slight emotional crack allowed] [MALE] Here's to growing old together, [MALE] Still reaching for your hand. [FEMALE VOCAL: tender, 40% volume, almost smiling through tears] [FEMALE] Looking back on all those moments [FEMALE] We once could only imagine. [OUTRO - MALE ONLY] [VOCAL: close-mic, 25% volume, almost spoken, peaceful; audible smile, very light rasp] [MALE] Somewhere out there, [MALE] Maybe she's wondering too. [MALE] And our favorite memory [MALE] Might still be the day [MALE] We haven't met yet. [END - SOFT PEDAL STEEL, PIANO, ROOM DECAY]
