Empty Chair

We commandeer a corner table

At our small town diner

Just five or six old men

Throwin' out corny ol' one-liners

They pat the heads of children

Give friendly nods to strangers

They sure seem quick to laugh

Makes you think they're slow to anger

Those guys were front-line brothers

Their lives depended on each other

They were soldiers long before they were men

Yeah, the ones that somehow survived

Came home, went on to build their lives

Never chargin' us a penny

For the debt we owe to them

But you can almost smell the gun smoke

And the foxholes that they shared

On the days they raise their coffees

And toast the empty chair

They'll ask you where you're from

What you do, what you've done

But don't go thinkin' they're all talk

'Cause you wouldn't wanna piss them off

Those guys were front-line brothers

Their lives depended on each other

They were soldiers long before they were men

Yeah, the ones that somehow survived

Came home, went on to build their lives

Never chargin' us a penny

For the debt we owe to them

But you can almost smell the gun smoke

And the foxholes that they shared

On the days they raise their coffees

And toast the empty chair

They'll tell you anything you wanna know

But there's one place they just won't go

'Cause they don't wanna ruin our dreams

By tellin' us the things they've seen

Those guys were front-line brothers

Their lives depended on each other

They were soldiers long before they were men

Yeah, the ones that somehow survived

Came home, went on to build their lives

Never chargin' us a penny

For the debt we owe to them

And you can almost smell the gun smoke

And the foxholes that they shared

On the days they raise their coffees

And toast the empty chair

To the brother who ain't there

We salute you