Last Call at the Lonesome Rail

[intro]
(Pedal steel sighs, a piano chord fades like a houselight dimming)

[verse 1]
They stacked the chairs up on the tables Tuesday night,
Sweep the salted peanuts off the barroom floor.
Old Mack's still polishing the brass rail like it's Sunday,
Though the doors ain't gonna open anymore.
There's a dartboard with my name carved in the corner,
A jukebox that's been hungry since '09.
I got a ten-spot folded in my jacket pocket
For a round that I won't get to buy.

[chorus]
So here's one for the Lonesome Rail, boys,
One more for the road that ran out.
They're turning all the neon down to daylight,
And nobody's left to laugh at nothing now.
We drank away the harvest, sang away the heartache,
Watched every hometown kid go drifting past.
Now the letters on the sign are blinking half out—
Last call is the only call that lasts.

[verse 2]
Ellen kept a tab behind the register
For fellas who were weeks behind on luck.
She'd just write "next Friday" in her spiral notebook
And pour another pitcher, never blink, just shrug.
There's a picture of her dad above the whiskey shelf there,
The year he built this bar with freight-yard pay.
Some chain-store in a city bought the whole block out—
Some things just can't be marked down and moved away.

[chorus]
So here's one for the Lonesome Rail, boys,
One more for the road that ran out.
They're turning all the neon down to daylight,
And nobody's left to laugh at nothing now.
We drank away the harvest, sang away the heartache,
Watched every hometown kid go drifting past.
Now the letters on the sign are blinking half out—
Last call is the only call that lasts.

[bridge]
You can put a lager in a cooler at the gas station,
You can stream a fiddle tune on your drive.
But there's no app for a barstool conversation,
No widget for the way we felt alive.
Mack just locked the register, wiped his glasses,
Said, "You all take care now," quiet as the rain.
Ellen kissed the doorframe like a lost lover—
Some walls hold more than paint.

[chorus]
Here's one for the Lonesome Rail, boys,
One more for the road that ran out.
They're turning all the neon down to daylight,
And nobody's left to laugh at nothing now.

[outro]
Headlights on the gravel, taillights on the blacktop,
The sign goes dark, the crickets take the verse.
I left my key on Mack's side of the counter—
Where the whole town used to hang its heart and thirst.
(Pedal steel fades over a last piano chord)