[Intro: soft accordion, brushed snare] The apartment is quieter than the street below I leave the lamp on for a shadow that will not show [Verse 1] Your coat is still hanging on the chair by the door I talk to it sometimes like it listens anymore She left the sheet music open on a chord she never finished Pencil in the margins where the endings get diminished Our girl is nine and careful with the pedals and the keys She asks me why the left hand always sounds like leaving trees I say your mother wrote the weather into every little phrase And I am only turning pages so the house remembers days [Pre-Chorus] I sit where she sat and I keep the wood warm If the song goes cold then the cold becomes the storm [Chorus] Piano bench, piano bench, hold the weight of what we were Two hands that used to fight for space now leave a little room for her Piano bench, piano bench, scuffed varnish and a crack I teach the girl the quiet parts and she teaches me them back If love is just a practice then we practice through the ache Piano bench, keep us honest till the morning starts to break [Verse 2] Wednesday she wanted Moonlight and she stumbled on the turn I almost fixed her fingers then I let the mistake burn Her mother used to say a wrong note is a door you did not plan Walk through it slow and listen for the room inside the man We eat from paper plates because the china feels too loud And every night at eight o'clock we make a little crowd Just me and her and dust motes in the amber of the lamp And a metronome that clicks like an old familiar stamp [Pre-Chorus] I sit where she sat and I keep the wood warm If the song goes cold then the cold becomes the storm [Chorus] Piano bench, piano bench, hold the weight of what we were Two hands that used to fight for space now leave a little room for her Piano bench, piano bench, scuffed varnish and a crack I teach the girl the quiet parts and she teaches me them back If love is just a practice then we practice through the ache Piano bench, keep us honest till the morning starts to break [Bridge: accordion alone, voice close] Some nights I hear her cough in the radiator's sigh Some nights I almost stand up and I almost say goodbye But the bench still dips a little on the left where she would lean And the girl says Daddy stay, we are only on nineteen [Verse 3: hushed] Last week she slid me over without asking for the key Played the page her mother marked with a heart I did not see No words, just the melody we buried in May And I cried into my coffee like a man who learned to stay [Final Chorus: soft female harmony] Piano bench, piano bench, hold the weight of what we were Two hands that used to fight for space now leave a little room for her Piano bench, piano bench, scuffed varnish and a crack I teach the girl the quiet parts and she teaches me them back If love is just a practice then we practice through the ache Piano bench, keep us honest till the morning starts to break [Outro: accordion fade] The apartment is quieter than the street below But the bench is warm, and the lamp is on, and the song still knows
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