Buying the Rounds (Her Memory Is)

[Verse 1] The bartender asked me why I’m sitting alone Staring a hole through a dead cellular phone I said don't worry buddy, I've got plenty of company here She’s sitting right next to me, cold as this beer [Verse 2] I can still smell her perfume in the smoke of this room And that neon light mimics her favorite costume I’m paying the tab, but I ain't drinking alone She’s occupying every single thought that I own [Chorus] [Vocal Dynamics: High emotional intensity, voice cracking on the top notes] And her memory is buying the rounds tonight Pouring the whiskey and dimming the light She walked out the door but she’s running the bar Leaving me drowning right here where we are Yeah, the jukebox is playing a slow, lonesome sound And her damn memory is buying the rounds [Guitar Break] (Slow, agonizing pedal steel guitar solo mimicking a human sob, twin fiddles swelling softly behind it) [Verse 3] [Vocal Dynamics: Quiet, conversational, near a whisper] There’s a ring-shaped shadow on my left ring finger And a ghost in the booth that’s legally permitted to linger I’d tell you I'm fine, but the whiskey tells the truth I'm just a grown man dying in a vinyl booth [Chorus] [Vocal Dynamics: Full band swells, maximum heartbreak, falsetto cracking style vocal slides] And her memory is buying the rounds tonight Pouring the whiskey and dimming the light She walked out the door but she’s running the bar Leaving me drowning right here where we are Yeah, the jukebox is playing a slow, lonesome sound And her damn memory is buying the rounds [Outro] (Music slows down even further, instruments dropping out one by one) Yeah, bartender... pour one for her too... (Fades out on a lone, weeping pedal steel guitar note) [End]