(Verse 1) There’s a coffee cup still sittin by the sink Little fingerprints that time erased in ink A basketball rolled underneath the stairs And echoes of laughter floatin through the air Eight little souls once filled these halls Now their pictures line these quiet walls I spent so many years prayin they would grow Never stopped to think they’d actually go (Pre-Chorus) Now the nights feel longer than they used to be Funny how silence can get so loud to me (Chorus) These empty chairs around this table Still hold every memory Every birthday candle, every broken dream Every “Dad, can you help me?” Now they’ve all got lives they’re livin Families and roads of their own And I’m proud beyond these words I sing But this house don’t feel like home With these empty chairs (Verse 2) One moved west to chase a dream One found love somewhere in near the Sea One became the kind of man I hoped he’d be One’s raisin kids that look a lot like me And the youngest is almost out the door Boxes packed up on the bedroom floor I smile and tell ‘em they’ll do just fine Then fall apart when I’m alone at night (Pre-Chorus) Cause every goodbye takes a little piece But somehow that’s what parenthood must mean (Chorus) These empty chairs around this table Still hold every memory Movie nights and scraped up knees Christmas lights and trampolines Now they’re all out buildin futures With hearts stronger than my own And I’m thankful for the lives they’ve made Even if it leaves me here alone With these empty chairs (Bridge – stripped almost bare) I used to pray for just one moment’s peace Now I’d give anything for the noise back around me Funny how life works that way You don’t know what you’ll miss till it walks away (Build emotional guitar swell) But I see them in every lesson learned Every bridge they crossed and every fire they burned Maybe the measure of a father’s love Is watchin them fly when it’s hard to let go of (Final Chorus) These empty chairs around this table Aren’t really empty after all Cause every laugh and every tear Still lives inside these walls And though the youngest soon will leave me And this old house will finally sleep I’ll be right here when they come back home Cause that’s what fathers keep For these empty chairs (Outro soft) Yeah… I can still hear ‘em runnin down the hallway…
