[Soft fingerpicked acoustic guitar, distant church bells, faint vinyl crackle] [Whispered female vocal] Every year, like clockwork… Red roses. [Verse 1] He wore his Sunday suit on Sunday And his wedding ring to town Shook the preacher’s hand at morning Never let his good name down But every June, behind the station Where the kudzu swallowed stone He’d leave a dozen scarlet roses At the house where I lived alone [Pre-Chorus] Twenty years of stolen hours Twenty years of locked-up doors I was the name he never mentioned She was the woman he adored [Chorus] Red roses and regrets That’s all he ever left me A dozen blooms, a thousand lies And a love that near destroyed me He gave her diamonds, gave her Sundays Gave me nights he’d soon forget I was his beautiful little secret Red roses and regrets [Verse 2] Then the telephone came ringing On a cold November day Said the Lord had called him homeward Said his heart had slipped away At the church, she wore black velvet Held his picture to her breast While the townfolk spoke of angels And the man they’d all loved best I stood behind the stained-glass window With his last bouquet of red And I wondered if she knew me Or the things he never said [Pre-Chorus] Twenty years of Christmas letters Twenty years of alibis I had half a life to show for it She had all his public lies [Chorus] Red roses and regrets That’s all he ever left me A dozen blooms, a thousand lies And a love that near destroyed me He gave her diamonds, gave her Sundays Gave me nights he’d soon forget I was his beautiful little secret Red roses and regrets [Instrumental Break] [Lonely pedal steel guitar, mournful fiddle, restrained drums] [Verse 3] Three weeks later, she came calling With a letter tied in red Said she’d found them in his study With the things he’d never said She’d known about the roses She’d known where he would go She’d read every word he’d written In the years we’d loved in shadows Then she looked me in the eye Said, “You thought you were alone But I watched him leave you flowers Then come crying back home He promised you a future He promised me the truth Seems the only thing he gave us Was a lifetime wasted on that fool” [Bridge] She placed his wedding ring between us Said, “I don’t want what he wore Take the man you thought you knew I don’t need him anymore” We sat there with the curtains open Let the evening sunlight in Two women mourning different things And neither one could win [Final Chorus] Red roses and regrets That’s all that man could leave us A house full of forgotten vows And memories to grieve us He gave her diamonds, gave me promises Both of us were left in debt He was somebody’s faithful husband And somebody’s worst regret [Outro] [Music strips back to fingerpicked guitar] Every June, I buy the roses Lay them by his name Not because I ever loved him Not because I feel ashamed But for the girl I was back then Who thought his lies meant love Red roses for the woman I was And regrets for what I’d become [Whispered vocal, fading into silence] Red roses… No more regrets. [End]
