[Key: D | Tempo: 68 BPM | Time: 4/4] [Baritenor male vocal | lyrical storytelling delivery | restrained emotional tone] [Style guidance: reflective art-pop storytelling ballad, sophisticated phrasing, not country] [Instrumentation: prominent fingerpicked acoustic guitars, expressive clean electric guitar textures and melodic fills, warm bass, light drum kit with side-stick groove, shaker and light tambourine percussion, optional soft cajon layer, very subtle piano support, gentle atmospheric pad] [Intro – fingerpicked acoustic guitar and subtle electric guitar swells | D Bm G A] [Verse 1] There was a man we used to walk with [Bm] Kindness danced inside his eyes [G] He would linger into evening [A] Like a friend who had all night [D] There was laughter round the table [Bm] Stories shared like broken bread [G] Love poured out like perfume [A] was our hungry hearts he fed [Chorus | Bm G D A | Bm G Em A] [Bm] Death would not come to bear [G] Love would hold us in the sorrow [D] Where the darkest shadows lay [A] And the voice that blest our table [Em] Would call his friend out of the grave [A] [Verse 2 | D Bm G A] [D] Then a shadow crossed the threshold [Bm] And the laughter faded slow [G] Word was sent along the highway [A] To the one we thought would know [D] Days fell down like silence [Bm] The road lay cold and bare [G] By the time he came and found us [A] It was sorrow that met him there [Chorus | Bm G D A | Bm G Em A] [Bm] Death would not come to bear [G] Love would hold us in the sorrow [D] Where the darkest shadows lay [A] And the voice that blest our table [Em] Would call his friend out of the grave [A] [Verse 3 | Bm A G D | Em Bm A] [Bm] There were whispers in the crowd [A] Questions hanging in the air [G] Some said love had come too late [D] Some just bowed in silent prayer [Em] He stepped into our weeping [Bm] And he stood beside the cave [A] Like a man who knew that darkness [A] Did not know what he would take [Bridge – guitars and percussion soften | electric guitar sustained tones | G A Bm | G A D] [G] Then in the silence of the graveyard [A] Heard a voice break through the gloom [Bm] the man we thought was gone forever [G] Walked alive out of the tomb [A] [D] [Final Chorus | Bm G D A | Bm G Em A] [Bm] Death would not come to bear [G] Love would hold us in the sorrow [D] Where the darkest shadows lay [A] And the voice that blest our table [Em] Would call his friend out of the grave [A] [Bm] Death would not come to bear [G] Love would hold us in the sorrow [D] Where the darkest shadows lay [A] And the voice that blest our table [Em] Would call his friend out of the grave [A] [Outro – electric guitar and acoustic guitar gently intertwine | D] [D] And he called his friend by name
