From the recording Still Giving It Our Best
Lyrics
Verse 1:
He sits back in his easy chair, the TV doesn’t play,
The room is filled with music of all his yesterdays,
“The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” takes him back to when,
He fought the Japanese to save his family and friends.
He nearly lost his life on some Okinawa hill,
Memories of that awful night quite often haunt him still,
But when he returned back to his home in 1945,
It didn’t take him long to see why God kept him alive.
For he met her at a roller rink, they skated through the night,
They fell in love as they walked home with a full moon burning bright,
Then they set out on a journey for over sixty years,
Now the music of those decades leaves a face of streaming tears.
Chorus:
He’s the last man standing on this battlefield of life,
All his friends have fallen along with his faithful wife,
He prays he can be with them at the setting of each sun,
But a soldier never leaves his post until the job is done.
Verse 2:
From the heart of New York City to a Hudson River town,
They found a peaceful quiet place where they could settle down,
To raise a little family and find themselves some friends,
To share the highs and lows of life and navigate its bends.
The sing along Mitch Miller songs remind him of the times,
When days went on forever and life was so sublime,
Whether ‘round a kitchen table or along a small creek shore,
They’d laugh and dance the night away and never want for more.
Bobby Vinton comes on with his “Roses Are Red,”
He thinks of all those “I love you’s” very rarely said,
For their love was shown in action, words were not their way,
They were the Great Generation that didn’t have much to say.
Chorus
Instrumental Break
Verse 3:
As the concert slowly closes with those evening ending songs,
He hears “Good Night Irene” start up and he starts to sing along,
He looks a little to his right into the empty chair,
He hears her singing with him even though she isn’t there.
Elvis whispers softly, “Are you lonesome tonight?”
He dreams of how they use to dance and hold each other tight,
The Platters bring the curtain down with their final line,
And once again she’s with him at last at twilight time.
Chorus x 2
©2012 Frank Meyer