(Tempo: Slow, mournful shuffle. Instruments: Distorted slide guitar, heavy bass, brushed drums, and a simple, lonely piano chord progression.) (Verse 1) (Male Vocals: Low, gritty, and weary) Sittin' here with dust in the air, lookin' at your favorite rockin' chair. Ain't been moved since you left this place, still got the shadow of your sweet, fine grace. Sun been up, sun been down, but you ain't nowhere in this lonely town. Yeah, the four walls know the truth I face, just an empty space where your head used to rest. (Chorus) (Vocals rise slightly, held notes on the final line) Oh, this ain't no sunshine, baby, just the long, hard rain. Lord, you left me with the Empty Chair Blues, and nothin' else remains. Every morning is a midnight, every laughter is a sigh, Gonna keep on draggin' this sorrow 'til the day I finally die. (Verse 2) (Vocals drop back down, more reflective) I still pour out two cups of coffee, just like I did every day, One for the silence, one for the words I can't find how to say. I open the window, let the night air creep in, But it don't bring your perfume, just the sorrow and the sin Of bein' left behind, with the memories so bright, A cheap, old lamp shinin' on this long, dark night. (Chorus) (Vocals rise slightly, more strain) Oh, this ain't no sunshine, baby, just the long, hard rain. Lord, you left me with the Empty Chair Blues, and nothin' else remains. Every morning is a midnight, every laughter is a sigh, Gonna keep on draggin' this sorrow 'til the day I finally die. (Guitar Solo) (Slow, crying slide guitar solo. The notes bend and weep, echoing the loneliness and pain, before resolving back into the verse rhythm.) (Verse 3) (Vocals are quiet, almost spoken, deeply emotional) They tell me, "Time heals all wounds," they tell me I gotta move on. But they don't know the promise we made at the break of the dawn. That we'd walk this dusty road right 'til the bitter end, Now I'm just a letter you forgot to send. I find your shawl behind the door, still smell the lavender scent, And I know I'll never know where your sweet soul went. (Chorus) (Full volume, powerful final push of despair) Oh, this ain't no sunshine, baby, just the long, hard rain. Lord, you left me with the Empty Chair Blues, and nothin' else remains. Every morning is a midnight, every laughter is a sigh, Gonna keep on draggin' this sorrow 'til the day I finally die. (Outro) (The music fades slowly. The guitar plays a simple, descending scale. The final line is delivered almost as a whisper.) Empty chair... Yeah, I'm sittin' here alone, baby... Just me and the blues... (The music finally stops with one final, sustained, feedback-tinged guitar note.)
