[MALE LEAD] [INTIMATE MODERN COUNTRY × SOUL] [NATURAL CONVERSATIONAL DELIVERY] [REAL INSTRUMENTS] [BEGIN SMALL — GRADUALLY OPEN] [NO OVER-SINGING] [Cold Open — Male] You don't have to say it. [acoustic guitar] I know... [beat] Actually— you don't have to say it. [Verse 1] Some people need every silence explained, every door left open, every feeling with a name. I used to think if something mattered you held on with both hands. Funny what you learn when you care enough to understand. You got a way of needing quiet when the whole world's asking things of you. So I don't knock just to make sure you remember I was there too. [Pre-Chorus] I can miss your laugh without disturbing your peace. I can carry something good without asking you to carry me. [Chorus] You don't have to say it. You don't owe me words. Don't have to make a promise just to prove that something's worth all the miles, all the years, all the little ways we've been here. Go live your life. I'll live mine too. And if the quiet needs some room— I'll leave some. For you. You don't have to say it. I already know what you mean to me. [INSTRUMENTAL TURN] [ELECTRIC GUITAR ANSWERS VOCAL] [Verse 2] I've seen you tired and still show up. Seen that fire when you've had enough. Seen you laugh when five minutes earlier you didn't feel like laughing much. And Lord knows I've gotten it wrong— said too much, pushed a moment too long. Had to learn that being there and being needed ain't always the same thing. [DRUMS ENTER DEEPER] So when you need the world turned down, I don't need to turn myself up. Some kinds of love get louder. Maybe ours gets better at listening. [Pre-Chorus] 'Cause I can want to hold you and still leave your hands free. Maybe caring for somebody ain't asking them to need me. [Chorus] You don't have to say it. You don't owe me words. Don't have to make a promise just to prove that something's worth all the miles, all the years, all the little ways we've been here. Go live your life. I'll live mine too. And if the quiet needs some room— I'll leave some. For you. You don't have to say it. I already know what you mean to me. [BRIDGE — BAND FALLS AWAY] Maybe someday life turns a corner. Maybe it doesn't. I don't know. And I won't turn a maybe into somewhere you have to go. [beat] But if some road years from now puts your hand back close to mine— I won't ask where you've been. I'll probably just smile and say— [softly] "Took you long enough." [small female laugh, distant] [Male] Yeah... I can hear you saying something already. [Female — barely there] Don't start. [Male laughs] There you are. [BAND RETURNS] [FINAL CHORUS — OPEN, NOT OVERPOWERED] You don't have to say it. You don't owe me words. Some things don't need a promise to be something that was worth every laugh, every tear, every strange little way we got here. You be you. I'll be me. And whatever life decides to be— there'll be room. There'll be peace. There'll be something good in me that knowing you put there. [Male — upper register] You don't have to say it. No— you don't have to say it. [half-beat] I just hope you always know— you've got room to breathe with me. [INSTRUMENTAL RELEASE] [Outro — close again] No need to answer. [beat] I know. [soft smile] Go have a good day. [END]
