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