[Verse 1] You were eight with a split in your thumbnail, Backpack sagging by the porch-screen door. Your mother called to say the car had stalled, And supper was already on the floor. Dad slid his chair across the linoleum, I watched you fold your coat up small. You took the biscuit with the broken edge; We never made a thing of it at all. [Chorus] There’s always room for one more chair, A little more bread, a little more time. Pull it close and leave it there; The table grows by a place at a time. When the road runs long or the day goes wrong, You don’t have to wonder where you are. There’s always room for one more chair, And somebody glad you came this far. [Verse 2] Years later, rain came down in sheets, A traveler stood beside the county sign. His phone was dead, his boots were soaked, He’d missed the last bus by a mile. You wrapped a towel around his shoulders, I poured coffee in the chipped blue cup. He fixed the loose hinge on the pantry door Before the morning picked him up. [Chorus] There’s always room for one more chair, A little more bread, a little more time. Pull it close and leave it there; The table grows by a place at a time. When the road runs long or the day goes wrong, You don’t have to wonder where you are. There’s always room for one more chair, And somebody glad you came this far. [Instrumental Turnaround] [Verse 3] Now you’re home with someone new beside you, She brought a pie beneath a tea towel’s fold. She knows the names of all the cousins, And laughs at the stories we’ve retold. You reach for the chair with the loose rung, She steadies it with one bare hand. I see you look the way I used to, When a place at the table meant you could stay. [Bridge] The paint wears thin along the chair backs, The years leave rings upon the wood. But every time the door swings open, We find a way to make it good. [Final Chorus] There’s always room for one more chair, A little more bread, a little more time. Pull it close and leave it there; The table grows by a place at a time. When the road runs long or the day goes wrong, You don’t have to wonder where you are. There’s always room for one more chair, And somebody glad you came this far. There’s always room for one more chair, And somebody glad you came this far. [Outro] Set it close, leave it there. There’s always room for one more chair.
